Not but a Dream
by JFalcon
Summary: Lexington, Brooklyn and Hudson are taken to another world full of humans, gargoyles and horrible monsters! Can they find a way to survive until Goliath and the others can find a way to reach them? Will they become heroes? BONE crossover
1. Act One: Strangers

**Act One**

**Part One  
Strangers . . .**

The six forms stood before the glowing archway, and the portal that would lead to another world, perhaps even another time!  
"The Queen wants this place investigated." One of the figures said, "But we should hurry, who knows when the Horde will stumble upon it?"  
"They will not know how to use it, they cannot follow us." Said another, tracing his hands over the runes carved into the arch.  
"Perhaps," said a larger form, "but they might destroy it, leaving us trapped on the other side, not so?"  
"That is what makes it _exciting_, brother." Said a fourth person.  
"I like not the feel of this." Said the fifth, who then turned to the sixth, and smallest member of the group, "You've no need to risk yourself child, might be we don't come back from this alive."  
The boy however shook his hooded head, "No! I found this portal, if anything bad happens it'll be my fault right? So . . . so I have to go!"  
"But he's too young, not so? I should escort him back to the castle!" The third figure said, shifting uneasily.  
"The boy has already proven himself to the queen, and to me," the second person said calmly, "He may come."  
"Of course, as you say Headmaster." The third said in a slightly venomous tone.  
"Yes . . . but we really do have to hurry." The first individual pointed out.  
"I am working on it—ah! Here we go . . . _Italane kofuse korack torack_!" The one called Headmaster shouted, and suddenly the green glow became a violent whirlpool of light, and the six were sucked in!

It was a warm night in Manhattan as Lexington, perched atop a battlement of Castle Wyvern stared down at the city below.  
There was hardly a cloud in the sky and the moon was full, and he could see a great deal of the city below. He couldn't wait to go out on patrol and see what was going on!  
Goliath was outlining the patrol order of the night, but Lexington already knew all about it. Hudson and Goliath were going to stay in tonight, Broadway and Angela would be patrolling the east side, and he and Brooklyn would handle the west. Bronx, as usual would be staying with Hudson.  
There was something in the air tonight, and Lexington felt restless, excited, eager to get on the move! Goliath told them to be careful and that was all he needed to hear, he threw himself from the battlement and fell like an arrow towards the ground thousands of feet below!  
No human in his right mind would have done such a thing, but Lexington, while in his right mind, was no human. He spread his arms, thereby spreading his wings, and rather than continuing to fall, instead be soared!  
It wasn't long before Brooklyn caught up to him, his arms crossed—for his wings, unlike Lexington's were separate from his arms—but with a grin spread across his striking, beaklike face, he said "What's got into you?"  
"I'm just full of energy tonight!" Lexington said, doing a quick loop in the air with ease that would make most stunt pilots jealous.  
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Brooklyn said. Though he didn't do a loop, or any kind of stunt, Lexington could hear a certain excitement in his old friend's voice that resembled his own.  
They flew for nearly an hour without finding any crime to fight—not necessarily a bad thing of course—and spent the time talking about favorite bands, and new computer viruses.  
Brooklyn had a passing interest in music, but Lexington was very interested in technology, not to mention great at using it. He'd heard about a new antivirus and Brooklyn had, as most friends would, done his best to listen and comprehend, but in the end had adopted a somewhat glazed expression, and Lexington had dropped the subject.  
Lexington noted that as they'd spoken, he and Brooklyn had drifted much closer to the city streets. They were still indistinguishable to the people below them, but he could see them well enough. "It's pretty quiet tonight." Lexington noted while trying to think of something else to talk about.  
No sooner had he said it, than a police siren was heard from below!  
"Looks like you spoke too soon." Brooklyn said, grim excitement in his voice, and without wasting an instant he folded his wings and dove towards the source of the sound, and Lexington followed!  
They easily kept pace with the police vehicle, but as they neared what was obviously the crime scene they sped up and landed on a nearby roof.  
An antique shop had been broken into. It looked as if something large had been thrown through the window, Lexington felt sorry for the owner.  
The squad car he and Brooklyn had followed pulled up next to a pair of others, and the officers wasted no time joining their fellows. "What's going on here?" One of them asked,  
"I'm not sure, reports say something just flew right in through the window!" A second officer answered, but he sounded skeptical.  
"Flew in through the window?" The first officer grunted, "You're not going to tell me it was one of those _gargoyles_ are you?"  
"Well, actually, according to the witness . . ." The second officer said, not sounding completely convinced.  
But Brooklyn seemed to have head enough, his eyes glowing he growled, "Demona!"  
Lexington had to admit that the rogue Gargoyle, Demona had come to his mind as well. It was an antique shop, and he wouldn't put it past Demona to go after some rare and probably magical artifact inside, and no other gargoyle would have reason to break into a human store either—without leaving money for whatever they might take of course—however . . .  
"Why would Demona break in through the front door—er window—and attract all that attention when there's a door on the roof?" He asked.  
"That doesn't matter, what ever she's after can't be good, we've gotta stop her!" Brooklyn said coldly.  
Lexington shrugged, agreeing that if Demona wanted something, odds were it wasn't for the betterment of human, or gargoylekind, and he followed Brooklyn to the roof of the shop. They used the entrance that Lexington had pointed out, it'd been locked but Brooklyn remodied that . . .  
Careful not to step on the splinters of what had once been a perfectly good door, Lexington followed the taller gargoyle into the shop, it was dark inside, but that didn't bother them much, gargoyles were exclusively night creatures after all.  
They travled down a short flight of stairs and reached a rather large room. Lexington took a moment to absorb his surroundings, this was a storage room, it seemed. Curious, he crept over to a nearby crate and looked inside. It was full of antique paintings! They were lovely, but they were all identical. He opened a second crate nearby and found it to be full of identical "antique" mirrors, each with the name "Queen Rose H." carved into them in fancy letters.  
This shop sold fake antiques to gullible tourists, Lexington realized, and suddenly felt less sympathetic towards the owner. This revelation made it harder to believe Demona would have a reason to break into the shop. He turned to Brooklyn, who was standing near the door to the shop below. "Coming?" He asked.  
Lexington nodded, knowing that even if this wasn't Demona, if it was a robbery it had to be stopped just the same. He quickly got to the door, Brooklyn was about to punch it in when Lexington held up a hand and said, "Wait! Listen!"  
"To what?" Brooklyn demanded.  
"Just listen . . ." Lexington said, putting his already fairly keen ear to the door, he heard voices in the shop below.  
Two voices, not one, and neither sounded like Demona's.  
"Bloody stars, Brother!" One voice shouted, "Almasy told us not to be seen! They're all around us now, we'll never get away unnoticed!"  
"How could I have known that invisible wall was there? You failed to see it as well, not so?"  
"You shouldn't have been trying to take _that_ in the first place!"  
"I did not want to take it, just to look at it!"  
"Oh? Why do you have it? Why is it tucked into your belt?" The first voice demanded.  
"Uh, well since I've gone through all this trouble, breaking down the invisible wall and everything, it's only fair that I take something positive from this experience not so? No one will miss it."  
"That's not Demona . . ." Lexington said, unnecessarily, for he could already see that Brooklyn, while still hot, had cooled down several degrees, confirming that he too no longer believed Demona was in the immediate vicinity.  
"Whoever it is, they're criminals." Brooklyn said.  
Lexington nodded, and opened the door. He looked outside to see complete darkness, creeping down the stairs for a better view he saw some light from the street outside, but not enough to illuminate the entire store.  
The two figures were still arguing, which made it easier to find them, they were kneeling behind the clerk's desk, though neither of them showed the slightest interest in the cash register just above their heads. They seemed to have long capes on their backs, very unusual.  
Lexington and Brooklyn were right behind them, Brooklyn put a finger to the tip of his beak, a clear signal for silence.  
"Matthias will be angry!" The figure on the right said, turning its head towards the other, Lexington couldn't make out any details of the face,  
"What do I care what Matthias thinks? He doesn't have to know about this!" The one on the left said, shoving the one on the right and turning him—albeit accidentally—towards Lexington and Brooklyn!  
The way that the burglar on the right suddenly froze made it all too obvious to Lexington: they'd been spotted! There was a dangerous, feral growl, and suddenly their eyes began to glow red like two bright beacons in the darkness, "Ambushed! Get out of here brother, I'll hold them off!"  
The second form turned, eyes flashing white, they stood up to their full height. Lexington saw what he had mistaken for a cape unfurl into a par of wings, and their owner growled, "No, let us take them together!"  
Lexington was certain now that both of these figures had tails, he looked to Brooklyn for some kind of idea what to do, but Brooklyn looked just as surprised!  
Lexington could only find two words to say: "They're Gargoyles!"

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note:** You, dear reader, may ask "when does this take place in the Gargoyle Universe?" and my answer is that I like to imagine that it takes place just at the end of season two, or perhaps shortly after the first episode of the Goliath chronicles. In regards to the Bone universe, it takes place hundreds of years after the series ended. This doesn't mean the story wont have any characters from Bone . . . in fact, I promise it will.


	2. Meetings

**Part Two  
Meetings . . .**

Almasy stood on top of a stone in a place a passerby had identified as central park, his three remaining companions sitting, or standing nearby, Matthias stood near a group of trees in an attempt to remain inconspicuous, but Almasy knew in the low light of no one would recognize him for what he was.  
Still, there was no denying it, this was his home! Well, it might not be _his_ exact home, but it was the same country, the correct year, people wore clothing he considered normal, not cloaks and hoods, and—this was very important—there were soda machines everywhere!  
He wished he still had real money, he would have loved to buy a root beer.  
"So this is your home, young master Almasy? It is quite a sight to see." Headmaster said.  
Almasy nodded. He disliked the new headmaster. Though it was obvious that Headmaster didn't feel the same way, and even wanted to be friends, Almasy didn't like him one bit.  
Still, being back in his own, familiar world he was feeling too glad to hold any grudges, he even found himself grinning!  
"I hope the twins stay out of trouble!" He said, and it came out as a laugh.  
The headmaster smiled at him, "I'm sure they can be trusted to keep themselves to themselves."

The gargoyle whose eyes were glowing white threw himself at Brooklyn, who was too surprised to react in time to avoid being knocked over!  
He was pinned in a second by the slightly larger gargoyle, and he heard Lexington say, "Wait, we're not your—ugh!" as the red eyed gargoyle barreled into him!  
"Stop! Stop!" Brooklyn growled, thrashing his legs and tail, "We're not your enemies!"  
The gargoyle on top of him gave Brooklyn a studying glare and said, "They are _gargoyles_¸ not so?"  
"Th-they are!" The red eyed gargoyle said, sounding confused, "But Almasy said—"  
"I know what the child said, but obviously he lied." The gargoyle scowled, then glared at Brooklyn, "And you! You should be ashamed attacking your own kind, not so?"  
"You jumped on _me_, pal!" Brooklyn scowled, and shoved the other gargoyle off of him, which urged a growl from his red-eyed companion, who nonetheless released Lexington—who'd been similarly pinned.  
"This is true," the gargoyle who'd jumped Brooklyn said, "and I _am_ sorry, cousin." He said in a tone that Brooklyn didn't believe sounded at all sincere, "You see we are just having a minor crisis here, our manners aren't what they should be."  
Brooklyn nodded, and dusted himself off, "All right, follow us, we'll get you out of here."  
"Really?" Red-eyes whispered, "Why?"  
"Because humans aren't supposed to know we exist, and if they catch you you'll wish you didn't." Brooklyn said grimly. It may very well have been a slight exaggeration, and it may not have been, but it accomplished its task and the pair followed him and Lex up the stairs, and then onto the roof. "Follow me, Lex, take up the rear!" Brooklyn said.  
His intention was not to put Lexington in harm's way by seeing to it that he was the last to escape, but to have someone trustworthy keep an eye on the two newcomers.  
He took one look back to make sure everyone had understood, and then ran for the edge of the roof and leapt into the air, spreading his wings he soared into the sky and glided away from the police.  
He kept on for two more blocks, then the four of them set down on the roof of an apartment complex. Brooklyn folded his wings over his shoulders, and tried to stand up as tall as he could—without it being too obvious that he was doing so—so as to look as intimidating as possible as he turned to get a better look at these two new gargoyles.  
They were young, maybe younger than Brooklyn, though probably not by much. They were about the same size as him, though the one that had jumped him was slightly broader in the shoulders.

One of them, the one that had pounced on him, was slightly larger than Brooklyn was, but had nothing on Goliath as far as muscle was concerned. He was ivory white, his wings were lined with lavender, and his short, neatly kept hair was raven black. His eyes were baby blue, and he had two horns on top of his head, like Brooklyn himself did. On each knee was a rather dangerous looking spike, and a heavy looking club at the end of his tail.

The other, the one who'd attacked Lex, was sort of the opposite, He was black, and more lithe than his companion. his tail had no club, and his hair was not short and neat. Instead it was stark white and unkempt, his bangs had grown down over his forehead on one side, though on the other they were swept back. He had spike-like ridges over his eyebrows, like Goliath, in fact he sort of looked like a smaller, lither version of Thailog, except that his wings—lined with dark blue—were like Brooklyn's own, having three claws instead of the one bat like thumb. His eyes, Brooklyn noticed, were dark red.  
What they wore, and what they carried surprised Brooklyn the most. The first wore a black tunic with silver trim, a plate of armor over his chest and two more on each shoulder. He had a metal gauntlet on one hand, and had a jeweled anklet on his right ankle. The other had a dark blue tunic, though his didn't cover the right half of his chest, nor did it have any armored plating on it's front, or it's sole shoulder, though he did wear a plate strapped over his right shoulder by a shoulder belt which attatched to the one at his waist, it was the bottom half of his tunic, that was armored, having three plates for each thigh.  
They were dressed, as far as Brooklyn could tell, like warriors, and they were equipped as the same, for each of them carried two swords apiece!  
Brooklyn decided to kick off the introduction, he was eager to learn who these two were and where they came from. He doubted, given their warrior attire that they could be from the Avalon clan, but maybe one of the other places Goliath had visited during his Avalon quest.  
He said, in a friendly, but still tough voice, "I'm Brooklyn, and this is Lex"  
"Short for Lexington. Pleased to meet you!" Lexington said.  
"I'm Alabaster!" The white gargoyle smiled, it was a friendly enough smile, though something didn't seem right about it, he clasped Brooklyn's wrist and shook Lexington's hand at the same time.  
"I am Dark Eyes," The other said, neither shaking hands, nor offering his own.  
"You have names!" Lexington exclaimed, "Did you choose them yourselves, like we did? They suit you!"  
"Our father named us." Alabaster said with his eyebrows raised, "Why didn't yours?"  
"They didn't think we needed them." Brooklyn said, not sure if this was the place to really explain all about the old gargoyle way, "So you must be from Avalon?" He asked, knowing that the gargoyles there had been raised by humans, and named.  
"Ava-where?" Alabaster blinked.  
"We come from Atheia," Dark Eyes said, "But if you want to know more, you'd best come with us, and meet Matthias."  
"Matthias, you mentioned that name before." Brooklyn said, remembering what Alabaster had said back at the antique shop. "Is he your leader?"  
"Matthias," Alabaster scowled, "is just a warrior of words from the castle clan."  
"He is the queen's ambassador," Dark Eyes said, waving his brother's words away, "and he accompanied us on our mission for just this purpose, just in case we found someone like them."  
"Like us?" Brooklyn blinked.  
Dark Eyes shrugged "Well, more like the clan you represent. Matthias came along to speak to anyone who might be able to help us, before it's too late."  
"Too late? For what?" Lexington asked.  
"For the clans of course! Old, young, male, female, all of us!" Alabaster growled.  
"Female?" Brooklyn raised his eyebrows at that.  
There were females? Well maybe . . . if he went with these two he could find . . .  
He was happy for Broadway and Angela . . . really. But he was envious too, which he told himself wasn't the same as being jealous. He had thought he loved Angela, but in the end, maybe he had just felt like she was his last chance.  
If there were other female gargoyles out there, many of them, there would be no pressure, he could take his time and truly find someone special . . .  
"Brooklyn!" Lexington said, poking his shoulder.  
"Eh? What?" Brooklyn asked, waking from his daze.  
"I was saying," Lex explained, "that we should take them to see Goliath."  
"Oh yeah!" Brooklyn said, "I was just thinking that," he lied. Goliath of course had just been the last thing on his mind.  
The amused look on Lexington's face said plainly that he knew exactly what Brooklyn had been thinking, Brooklyn just shrugged.  
"This Goliath . . . he is your king, not so?" Alabaster reasoned.  
"He's our leader." Brooklyn nodded.  
"Then . . . he should meet with Matthias and the headmaster, not us." Dark Eyes said, "Brother, we are not negotiators, besides this is Almasy's world, he would know best—"  
"We are warriors, not so?" Alabaster said, placing his hands on the hilts of his swords, "What if this is a trap? We should ah . . . ensure that it is safe for Matthias and the others." He turned now to Brooklyn, and bowed low, "You may take us to your leader, good sir."  
Brooklyn shared a cautious look with Lex, but the smaller gargoyle didn't seem phased in the least, he just said "Let's go then!"

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note: **This story takes place so long after BONE for reasons that will be stated in chapter 3. This story is scripted to have three Acts, though act one is finished I am slowly putting up it's chapters to give me time to work on Act Two, and also to give readers time to read them one at a time, NOT to milk you for reviews, though I do appreciate them. Fun Fact: Parts one to three were scripted as one chapter, but came to an all together twelve pages, they were cut up to make them easier for online readers to read, this is why most things will seem to happen slowly.


	3. The Tale

**Part Three  
****The Tale . . .**

Standing before the portal, Loki grinned wickedly. Everything was going according to his plan. Soon, very soon, great change would sweep over Atheia, after all that was what Loki wanted. While Skadi sought vengeance for her severed hand, and to end some odd feud with the Atheians, Loki only sought change, and fun.  
For a year the Atheians had held off the horde. For a year Odin and Thor had refused to intervene on the Atheians' behalf, while Skadi directly influenced the course of the horde's success. It was getting boring, it needed some spice, it needed change.  
The Atheians needed a change, and the horde needed a new enemy, Loki had begun to provide that when he captured the human boy, Almasy. By allowing the child to learn "secrets" of the Horde, then to "escape" his clutches and find the portal that Loki himself had made, he had guessed—correctly—that that Atheian queen would send a team through to investigate. He had gambled that something fun would happen. Loki couldn't see the future, but through the dreaming he could see possibilities, he knew what lived on the other side of that portal, he knew all about gargoyles, he had after all, been the one who brought the first clutches of gargoyle eggs to Atheia over two hundred years ago.  
Now, with Skadi and two score horde beasts by his side, he meant to give events a little push to be sure that the proper enemy returned through the portal. Loki, who loved change, mischief, chance and in all other words: fun, was the mastermind behind everything that had occurred for the past two hundred years, no matter what Skadi thought, he'd come into his own long before Thor realized he was dangerous, and long before Skadi dared to presume that he should be her student.  
"Activate it!" Skadi barked at Loki.  
Loki bowed before her, and said, "Not yet. The runes will take some time to translate." It was a lie, he knew the magic words and Skadi knew that he knew. What she didn't seem capable of figuring out was why Loki would stall, and Loki made no move to inform her, seeing her so confused was quite amusing.  
When the time was right . . . only, when the time was right, would he activate the portal. He turned to two young warriors and said, "Be prepared, you'll take point."

Hudson gave Bronx a pat on the head as he watched four gargoyles approaching the castle, it was obvious that one of them was Lexington, his rare wing design was shared by only one other gargoyle in the Manhattan area, and that sad creature had entered a permanent stone hibernation.  
So Hudson supposed that the others must be Talon and one of his clan, for they certainly couldn't be Broadway and Angela, who'd returned to the castle a few minutes ago.  
In fact, as the four gargoyles neared, Broadway, emerging from inside the Castle with Angela, rubbed his eyes and said, "Hey! Who's that with Brooklyn and Lexington?"  
"Friends of yours, lass?" Hudson asked Angela.  
Angela peered, the four were closer now and Hudson was sure that her eyes, younger and stronger than his, could see more detail than he could, and he tensed a little when she said, without hesitation, "I don't know them."  
Brooklyn landed in front of Hudson, and Lexington did a quick aerial loop before landing as well, "Broadway, Angela, you're back! Perfect!"  
"Yes . . ." Angela said, sounding cautious, "but who are your friends, Lexington?"  
As one of them, a broad shouldered young male stepped forward, and bowed low before Angela, Hudson could see why she would be cautious: both of these strangers wore swords strapped to their waists.  
"I am Alabaster, and this is my brother Dark Eyes," The youth said, and his brother gave a curt nod.  
"Well I'm Broadway," Broadway said, taking a step forward and extending his hand, which Alabaster eagerly shook, "And that's Angela, and Hudson."  
"Don't forget Bronx," Lexington said, scratching Bronx behind the ear.  
Hudson ran his fingers through his beard and said, "And where are ye from, lads?"  
"Atheia," The one called Dark Eyes said, "And we hope to return there soon—not that your Manhattan isn't lovely." He added quickly.  
"Aye, it's lovely," Hudson said, "but why're ye in such a hurry to get back to your home, having taken all the trouble to come here?"  
"Well, we had hoped not to go alone." Alabaster said, "We would like you and the warriors of you clan to come with us, not so, brother?"  
"Our ambassador would answer all of your questions, and any your king—er leader may have if you would just accompany us . . ." Dark Eyes said, shifting uneasily.  
Alabaster waved his brother's words away, "Forgive my brother, he is terribly shy around strangers. Why don't you give us a tour of this lovely castle?" He asked Angela.  
"Uh, excuse me—" Angela began, but she was cut off by Alabaster's brother.  
"Shy?" Dark Eyes snapped, "I am worried! Brother, have you forgotten the danger—"  
"Oh very well," Alabaster sighed, "Perhaps another time." He said, bowing apologetically to Angela, who did not seem all that sorry to see him backing off.  
"Well, perhaps someone ought to fetch Goliath then?" Hudson suggested.  
"He isn't here?" Brooklyn asked.  
Hudson shook his head, "He mentioned going to Elisa's, but where he'd go beyond that . . ."  
"We can look for him!" Broadway said, and Angela quickly nodded her agreement.  
"My brother and I will return to our companions in this . . ." Alabaster tapped his chin, then looked at Dark Eyes for the answer.  
"Central Park is what Almasy called it." Dark Eyes said, sounding relieved.  
"I'll go with you!" Brooklyn said eagerly, and Lexington nodded his agreement.  
"Aye, I think I'd like to meet these companions of yours myself." Hudson said, Bronx whimpered.  
"We'll take you too, Bronx." Brooklyn said.  
"And that's where we'll take Goliath." Broadway said.  
"Yes . . ." Angela said, sounding hesitant. She looked as if she might say more, but instead turned and glided off without saying another word.

Hudson and the others landed in a secluded section of Central Park, they were completely alone.  
"Where are the others?" Alabaster demanded.  
Dark Eyes shrugged helplessly, "I'm not sure. Almasy?" He called out.  
"We're here!" A voice said, and a young boy, no older than thirteen came out from behind a tree.  
He was wearing a black tunic, and a long cloak, his face was handsome by human standards, though this was terribly hard to see, since his short, wavy brown hair was terribly unkempt, and he looked as if he'd fallen down a mountain, and then bathed in mud.  
Next came three others, two adult humans, and another gargoyle, this one much older than the twins. He was probably older than Goliath, but not as old as Hudson, his skin was lightly tanned, and seemed to resemble a human's Caucasian skin tone more than any gargoyle's hide. In fact, with his wings folded around him like a cloak, he looked quite a bit like a human, his face looked very human, except for the pointed, elfish ears, and the teeth which were of course gargoyle. His dusty brown hair was lined with gray.  
Of the two humans, one wore a hood, covering his face completely, though he seemed to have no problems seeing anything. He wore a black fur tunic, and had a sword, and several daggers strapped to his waist. He was wearing loose fitting cloth bracers, which despite being buckled in three places seemed to be sliding halfway over his gloved hands, and around his neck he wore a golden medallion.  
The other human was of obvious Asian ancestry, his graying hair was styled in a topknot, and he wore what did appear to be armor not unlike that Hudson had seen samurai on the television wear, in addition to his black tunic and drawn back hood. Rather than a longsword, like his companion, his had the decorated and distinctive hilt of a katana.  
"I see you have brought friends!" The gargoyle said, "A pleasure cousin!"  
"I had no idea there were Gargoyles in Manhattan . . . or anywhere aside from Atheia." The young boy said.  
"Well to be fair we thought humans were extinct until you castaways started washing up." Said the gargoyle, "Well cousin, I am Matthias, and this is young Damien—"  
"Almasy." The boy corrected.  
"Quite. He prefers to be known by his surname,"  
"You would too if your name were Damien." Almasy pointed out, and Hudson, having never been called that, couldn't rightly argue, or agree.  
"Yes . . . well as I was saying this is young Almasy, to my left is our new Marshal of the Armies, lord Kisaragi Hijihide, incidentally he too prefers to be known by his family name."  
The Asian man, Kisaragi nodded.  
"And to my extreme left, our new Headmaster."  
"New?" Lexington asked.  
Matthias said, "They were appointed only days ago, when Princess Violet assumed the throne as Queen. But cousins, enough of that. I must say I am very thrilled to meet you, do tell me your names!"  
"I'm Brooklyn, this is Lexington, Hudson and that's Bronx."  
Matthias looked at Bronx for quite a long time, then finally turned back to Hudson, "And I take it you are the leader?"  
"No." Hudson said, waving his hand in the air as if to swipe the very concept away, "No, I'm just an old gargoyle, who'd much rather spend his nights in front of the television than leading the clan. Our leader is called Goliath, and he's on his way."  
Matthias seemed surprised, he shook his head and said, "Almasy has told me of television, I envy you the knowledge you must have witnessed through its magic, and I am sure your wisdom can guide us."  
"Wisdom, eh?" Hudson asked, not sure if this were an attempt at flattery, or sarcasm.  
"Certainly." Matthias said. "And perhaps, you might answer some questions for me?"  
"Such as?"  
"Well for starters, do you think your leader, Goliath will aid us?" Matthias asked.  
"I don't see why not, though it would help if we knew what the trouble was." Hudson said, stroking his beard.  
"Alabaster mentioned something about you guys running out of time?" Lexington pointed out.  
"And indeed we are." Matthias said. "I can only tell you what I know mind you, Headmaster knows of the beginning, I only know of the present."  
"The present is all that matters." Headmaster said calmly.  
"Tell us." Brooklyn said.  
Matthias nodded. "Well our enemy is vast and numerous, and more of them seem to crawl out of their deep caves in the earth every day."  
"They are not normally, strictly subterranean creatures," Headmaster broke in, "the old text says that they used to live in the mountains."  
"Yes," Matthias said, "but now they've set their sights on our valley, and our castle. The Headmaster tells me this is a continuation of an age old war, but now it seems our enemy's numbers alone will ensure an end to it. We Gargoyles have lived in Atheia for two hundred years, but this trouble only started two years ago, and in that short time our numbers have plummeted!"  
"Plummeted?" Lexington gasped.  
"Yes," Matthias said grimly, "Once there were five full, healthy clans inhabiting various parts of the valley, and we were very happy. However disaster struck at the most . . . inopportune time."  
"What do you mean?" Brooklyn asked.  
"Well you see two years ago this ancient evil began to resurface, slowly at first, we though nothing of it, we did not know they were dangerous, we did not know that war would come to us."  
"War?" Brooklyn gawked.  
"Our clans were not in contact at the time, there were rivalries, and unfortunately our cousins of the forest clan were the first to encounter the new evil, and they did not think to summon help until it was too late. Few of them remain today . . ." Matthias lowered his head, "We've lost all contact with the Mountain clan, all attempts to reach them have failed, we fear the worst."  
Hudson shifted uneasily, this did sound like something Goliath needed to hear. He himself was feeling a terrible pull on his old heart, here he was being told that there was a place where gargoyles did, or had existed in great numbers, but were now being annihilated!  
"Luckily hunters from the canyon clan received word from the forest survivors, they sent a group of hunters to face this foe, and did succeed in dirving them back . . . or so we thought."  
"It was a temporary victory," Dark Eyes said sadly, "They returned twice as strong the following night, we were caught unprepared . . ."  
"They did manage to reach the castle, and my clan before their losses began to resemble those of the Forest Clan," Matthias said, "And we were able to mount a defense from the castle, the enemy was repelled, we believed then, and were proven correct, that they fear the castle, believe it to be cursed. We were joined by the River clan, and I personally negotiated the pace between us and the invaders. Nine months passed, then quite suddenly we received our first hint of the portals that connect your world and ours, when humans began to wash up on our shores."  
"Why should that suggest portals?" Brooklyn asked.  
"Ship wrecked humans were washing up on the shores of a _lake_. It is not a very big lake, either." Dark Eyes said.  
"Yes." Matthias confirmed, "Young Almasy and Marshal Kisaragi both arrived little more than a year ago."  
"And that's what started the second war." Almasy said.  
"Yes, you see while our enemy was willing to tolerate us," Matthias said, "they hated the humans."  
"It was my brother who started it, not so?" Alabaster said, sounding amused, "He slew one of them to save Almasy."  
Dark Eyes slumped, but Almasy patted his arm, being too short to reach his shoulder.  
"Yes, he did." Matthias said, "And it was the right thing to do. But it did break our treaty, the war began anew. We have fought now for an entire year without any lasting end . . . many brave gargoyles are gone to dust."  
Brooklyn and Lexington looked shocked, and Hudson stroked his beard, lost in thought.  
"It sounds like fighting isn't working for you."Lexington said.  
"We yet live, not so?" Alabaster scoffed.  
"True," Lexington said, "But if you can come here, why not evacuate the castle?"  
"The queen may consider that." Headmaster spoke up, "Though I doubt we Atheians will abandon our ancestral home. In truth most of the known portals in Atheia are unstable, it was through pure, dumb luck that young Almasy discovered the one we used, this was our first journey in, to discover what lay on the other side."  
"But finding you, cousins," Matthias said, "Is heartening! Surely you can help us, surely your warriors will lend us aid!"  
"How many of ye are left?" Hudson asked cautiously.  
Matthias shrugged. "I know not." He admitted. "Little more than three score all heads told,"  
"Thrice that number in human soldiers." Headmaster added.  
Hudson stroked his beard. "We haven't even a dozen to offer ye."  
"What are you talking about?" Brooklyn demanded, "We have to help them! We could get Talon and his clan, they could even fight in the day! Xanatos could help, w-we can't just abandon them!"  
"I never said that we would," Hudson said calmly, "though the decision itself belongs to Goliath. Might be there are other options to fighting."  
"Like what?"Alabaster demanded, but before Hudson could tell him a flash of purple light appeared, a swirling vortex of energy, and from it leapt two great beasts the likes of which Hudson had never before seen!

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note, Fiery eyes:** The writer would like to note, that he is aware that normally only female gargoyles have pink glowing eyes, the only exception in the series that I can recall at this time, is Thailog, who, needless to say, wasn't normal. But Dark Eyes is a male, and his eyes do glow red instead of white. I used artistic license to make him appear more demonic, more evil. He's gotta look evil! In the artwork this story is based on, Dark Eyes is actually supposed to resemble a cross between Demona and Thailog, as if they'd had a son, mind you he's not actually related to either of them. That's just how I drew him.  
To lay all bare, its about four hundred years since the ending of BONE, in the first hundred years there was Queen Thorn, who handed the throne to Queen Magnolia. Magnolia was her daughter, who her father was I won't say, that's none of my business. Magnolia in turn had Birch and Violet, Birchseems to havedied when the rat creatures invaded again, Violet and their cousin Leif, along with several hundred Atheian citizens were "incapacitated" for over two hundred years. During this time, Magnolia, who survived, was entrusted to care for some gargoyles eggs by Loki, who'd disguised himself as another human survivor. The gargoyle clans had two hundred years to grow, Magnolia separated them into five different clans before her death of old age, and appointed five kings/queens over the clans. Methusala is the only remaining gargoyle of the first generation. Overall the wars are started by Skadi, who hates Thorn and pretty much just wants to wipe out her descendants. Loki was a "child" when the war ended, but still capable of bringing gargoyles into the mix a few months later, older and wiser these two hundred years later, Loki manipulates events. This is all based on a story and fan art that were incredibly violent, this story will be far less so, therefore I chose, not long ago, not to post the prequel on   
In this story I wanted to spend less time on the battle field, and more time playing with The Dreaming, fooling around with romances, and generally having fun. It's my story, I'm allowed to have fun! Besides, it's a big change for me to do a fantasy / romance, instead of an action/adventure, or pure, somewhat irreverent humor fic, I wonder how it'll go.


	4. Into The Vortex!

**Part Four  
****Into The Vortex!**

Skadi slammed her solitary fist into the wall, "Why two? We have thirty eight more!"  
"Wait." Loki said.  
"I want to know what is on the other side of the portal!"  
"Just wait." Loki said, grinning.  
"Beguile waiting!" Skadi roared, "Ten more, NOW!"  
"Oh no . . . stop . . . don't . . ." The unpredictable, and unreadable Loki said sarcastically, as the ten rushed past him, and he continued to grin.

Lexington gasped in shock, the two monstrosities before him were unlike anything he'd ever seen before!  
To describe them would be to describe several animals blended together. Their torso resembled that of a bear, they had long arms, half again the length of a human's, though their legs, which resembled the hind legs of a rat were better proportioned to their bodies. Their heads were round, save for the cropped ears that looked like two long horns atop their heads. They had empty, glowing, red eyes, each about the size of a baseball, and they were covered in fur, save for their pointy ears, clawed hands, and feet.  
The two blinked, and began to hiss like rats, Dark Eyes and Alabaser drew their swords so quickly that had Lexington chosen that moment to blink, he'd have missed it.  
The Headmaster, and Marshal drew their weapons as well, and one of the creatures, whose coat was black said, "_Hold, flatlanders! Surrender now, and I will ask King Bok to show you mercy, and eat you quickly!_" He seemed fairly confident, and his brown coated companion was grinning a monstrously sharp toothed grin.  
Dark Eyes lunged forward, the unfortunate creature leapt behind its companion—who stopped grinning—and screamed, "_Comrades_!"  
"Show you cowards, I will!" The Marshal roared, katana drawn he charged for the two pitiful creatures, who in turn charged . . . in the opposite direction, screaming.  
"That is your great enemy?" Brooklyn sounded both relieved, and unconvinced.  
"Cowards exist among all peoples, even Gargoyles." Headmaster said calmly as he, Alabaster and Dark Eyes sheathed their swords. "Those were probably scouts, someone should go get master Kisaragi, we must—" Lexington gasped in surprise as the vortex expanded, and another monster appeared!  
This one was a little larger, and gray, he hissed and without warning charged for the Headmaster, leaping upon, and pinning him!  
More enemies emerged, two tackled Alabaster, who was unable to reach his swords, and another ran for Almasy, but was intercepted by Dark Eyes, who threw himself into it, hurtling it several feet and into a tree which cracked from the force!  
Soon the situation was chaos, Matthias and Hudson each had a foe to fight, Brooklyn, like Alabaster had two of the monsters pinning him down, and Bronx wrestled with yet another monster!  
Lexington saw one come for him, he spun around and struck it with his tail, but he shouted in surprise as he felt the beast catch and hold onto his tail! He was then thrown into the air!  
Thinking fast, he spread his arms and caught the wind, thankful that this monster was a strong one and could throw him so high in the air, he growled, his eyes flashing he dove now and used his speed to slam into his enemy, knocking the wind out of them!  
Where were Goliath, Broadway and Angela? They could really use them about now! He leapt onto the next nearest monster, the one that had pinned the Headmaster, and punched it in the tooth filled mouth!  
"Lex!" He heard Brooklyn shout, and turned in time to see another monster lunging for him, but with a shadowy flash the monster screeched and fell to the ground, unhurt but cowering!  
The headmaster was standing now, his sword drawn again, and Lexington could see now that its slightly curved blade was as black as any shadow, the blade itself seemed to vibrate and emit shadow much the same way a torch emitted light.  
The headmaster looked at the scene and shoved the weapon into the ground—which seemed to be enough to make the three monsters not attacking one of the others nervous.  
The headmaster began to move his hands about as if he was speaking in rapid sign language, and he shouted, "_Wishyah_!"  
The shadows of the night themselves seemed to wrap together to form a large, black wolf, or at least a very good imitation. It howled, Lexington saw the Headmaster moving his hands about more slowly, presumably controlling his creation as it reared up and howled!  
The monsters all leapt back and hissed, Lexington saw Hudson put his sword away, and noticed Brooklyn was nursing his left shoulder, but Alabaster laughed wildly, drew both his swords and threw himself at the cowering monsters!  
Lexington wasn't sure whether or not Alabaster had meant to kill them, for they broke and fled back into the vortex before his blades could catch them.  
The headmaster swept his hands through the air, and his shadow puppet disappeared. He fell to his knees then and coughed.  
"You overdid it." Alabaster scoffed, "I was a little afraid of it." Alabaster leapt into the portal after the enemy! Dark Eyes snapped something that sounded like "fool!" and leapt in after his brother.  
The Headmaster chuckled, "I thought there were more of them, I panicked." He said, then he turned his head towards Lexington and said, "Thank you, if you hadn't helped me I may never have been able to cast my spell."  
"Don't mention it." Lexington shrugged.  
"Nice one." Brooklyn grunted, "But what was that thing?"  
"Just a puppet." Headmaster said, getting up with some difficulty, and returning his sword to its scabbard, he said, "It's really quite harmless, only don't tell that to the rat creatures."  
"Rat creatures? Is that what those things were?" Lexington asked.  
"Our ancient enemies." Headmaster said. "If they're on that side of the portal in force it means we haven't any longer to wait for this Goliath, we have to go. I am sorry we could not negotiate an alliance." Without another word, he leapt through the portal!  
"You needn't return, Almasy," Matthias said as he approached the portal, "If this is your world, then you're finally home."  
"No . . . Atheia is my home now, there's nothing for me here. Besides, I've got to help Dark Eyes!" He didn't even look back as he dashed into the portal!  
Matthias frowned at Lexington, Hudson and Brooklyn. "I am sorry cousins, I do prefer speech to violence, and if I could I would remain here and talk to you more . . . but I must join the battle, who knows how many are on the other side? Ah . . . could I ask you to find Kisaragi and bring him back here? We may not be able to hold them for long, we'll have to abandon the portal and it wont be safe for him after that."  
"We'll bring him back." Lexington said, and Matthias bowed low and then leapt into the portal himself!  
Brooklyn stood up straight, and said, "I'll help them."  
"What?" Lexington gawked.  
"I'll just help them hold their ground at the portal until you guys can find their friend, I'm not staying." Brooklyn said, "You saw how many of those rat things there were, I've gotta help."  
Lexington nodded, "Yeah. You're right, I'll come too!"  
"And if I go to make sure the two of ye don't lose your heads, who's going to be finding that marshal then?" Hudson asked.  
"Bronx!" Lexington called, "C'mere boy! You find the guy and bring him right back here, okay?"  
Bronx barked once, then turned and ran off, Brooklyn took a deep breath and said, "Ready?"  
Lexington would be lying if he said "yes" he had no idea what was on the other side of the portal, how many rat monsters there were, but he did know that the portal was a danger to Manhattan as long as it remained open, and if the humans and gargoyles fighting in there were all killed they'd never be able to close it. Worse it seemed obvious that the rat creatures knew how to open it too!  
So he just nodded to Brooklyn, and they both leapt into the vortex!  
Lexington flew through the vortex and found himself in a very different place!  
He took a second to observe his surroundings, they were in a cave, it was lit by torches and those torches illuminated a cavern full of rat creatures!  
Hudson came in after them, and took no time to orient himself, instead, sword drawn he leapt into the fray!

Loki grinned wickedly, he had everything he needed now, and he snapped his fingers, the portal closed.  
Skadi gave him a curios look, and he shrugged. "You will understand everything soon, teacher." He said, and then he turned away from the battle.  
Loki heard Skadi scowl, then in the military code language of the rat creatures she shouted an order to fight only until she and he had left the cave, then break and retreat.  
As soon as the two had left the cave, they let their human disguises melt away, and with their true bodies, took to wing and fled.  
"You play an odd game, Loki." Skadi said coolly.  
"Oh it's common enough in the end." Loki said easily, teasing his ancient teacher, whom he knew was magically determining whether or not he was lying.  
He grinned, knowing that the fact that he had told the truth would confuse her, for betrayal was indeed a common enough game. "You may go to my father now if you like, tell him whatever lie you can concoct to explain your disappearance, but I will be at the human castle, fashioning a real alibi."  
Skadi opened her beak to protest, but Loki soared away, ignoring the old crone.  
He grinned to himself, everything was going too well . . . he'd brought new toys into the game, and gotten rid of that meddling Hijihiro, whom he believed had been close to learning his secret, given how closely he watched him every time he snuck into the castle!  
Loki concentrated and let his body change into that of a beautiful female gargoyle, this one he knew would have no trouble getting past guards, be they human or gargoyle, he'd used this guise twice before. Once he reached the castle he would have to find someplace secret to revert back to his true body before taking human shape, but the excitement of infiltrating the castle was always fun.

The Rat Creatures feld, Lexington felt exhilaration run through him, he laughed and slapped Brooklyn on the shoulder, then said, "Sorry!" when Brooklyn flinched in pain, Lexington had forgotten that his left shoulder had gotten hurt just moments ago.  
"They're retreating!" Almasy said, he laughed, "They probably don't know how many gargoyles we've got on the other side of the—" the boy's face fell a bit, "Eh, Headmaster, is it supposed to do that?"  
The Headmaster looked at the portal, and sighed, "It must have timed out. Unusual, but not unheard of." He said. "I'll reopen it." He moved his hands in a series of gestures, as he had when he summoned his shadow puppet, and he said, "_Italane_ _kofuse korack torack_!"  
There was a pause, then he began again, and again he said the words, "_Italane_ _kofuse, korack, torack_!" This time he sounded worried. The third time he sounded desperate, and the forth he was almost pleading.  
"I can't open it!" He said in shock.  
"Did it burn out?" Almasy asked.  
The Headmaster shook his head, "It couldn't have done. Those blasted rat creatures must have found some way to seal it!"  
"So open it." Alabaster growled.  
"I told you, it's sealed! It's still there, but we cannot open it!" The Headmaster said.  
Lexington looked at Brooklyn, he was the leader, and this had been his idea . . . "How do we get home?" He asked.  
Brooklyn's shoulders slumped, and he gave Lexington a helpless look.  
"Well lads," Hudson said calmly, "Ye wanted to help our cousins; it looks like we'll have plenty of time to do it."  
Lexington felt his heart sink, it could be a long time before he saw a computer again . . .

**To Be Continued . . .  
****Author's Note: **I'd like to take this chance to thank all those who've read this story, and kindly decided not to shout profanities at me. That seems to be what _usually_ happens when I write a story. It's quite refreshing not to have it happen here. What a great audience.


	5. Castle Thorn

**Part Five  
****Castle Thorn**

"_Do you think the crazed flatlander has stopped chasing us, comrade?_" Thura asked.  
Rat creatures were not used to climbing trees, but to escape the insane human brandishing a blade at them, Dingeye and his comrade Thura had indeed scaled one at speeds that would put any human trying to evade a bear to shame!  
"_I do not know, comrade . . . perhaps we should climb higher?_" Dingeye offered.  
"_No, I cannot go any higher . . . you climb down and see if he is gone!_"  
"_Me?_" Dingeye shouted, then threw his on hand over his mouth, "_Why don't_ you _do it?_" He demanded in a much quieter voice.  
"_Because your fur is black, you would blend in with the shadows much better than I would._ _Go comrade, go be one with the shadows . . ._" Thura said, fingers wiggling in a mock mystic way at the word "shadows"  
"_Fine!_ _But if he cuts my head off, I'll haunt you for the rest of your life!_" Dingeye warned.  
"_All ten seconds of it?_" Thura scoffed.  
Muttering cruel things, Dingeye climbed down the tree and came to its lowest branch. He perched on it, and, holding on tight, stuck his head down, beyond the leaves and looked around.  
There was nothing there, so he climbed up and told Thura, "_The crazed flatlander has disappeared, let us go._"  
"_Thank heavens, comrade!_" Thura said as they reached the ground, "_I thought that crazy human would kill us to death!_"  
"Sounds like a good idea." The human said, emerging from behind their tree, sword drawn.  
Dingeye held up a hand, silencing the human and said to Thura, who looked horrified, "_Comrade, comrade,_ kill _us to_ death_? Do you not see how redundant that statement is? Come now, lets go. And if we are going to be fleeing for our worthless lives together, you should try to be more intelligent, like me._"  
Dingeye took two paces away then paused, turned around and saw the crazy flatlander staring at him, sword drawn, but pointed downwards as he scratched his head in confusion.  
Dingeye hissed, and his black fur stood on end, he and Thura ran!  
"_Why didn't you warn me about him, comrade?_" Dingeye shouted back to Thura, who was following him at top speed, for the human had taken up the chase once more!  
"_You said it would be_ redundant _if he killed us, so I thought that meant we were safe!_" Thura cried as the two ran for their lives.

Brooklyn was at a loss. He _had_ wanted to see these Atheian clans, he wouldn't lie to himself. But he'd meant to go home after. He'd wanted to help them yes, but return to Manhattan afterwards. Now, because of his recklessness, and a passing fantasy that this adventure might somehow lead to true love, he had gotten himself, Lexington and Hudson trapped who knew where? Goliath wouldn't be able to save them from this one.  
"Is there any way for us to open it again?" Brooklyn asked, referring to the portal, which had somehow ceased to function after he, Lexington and Hudson had come through it.  
"Oh certainly!" The Headmaster said in what was obviously a forced cheerfulness, "I dare say it will be easy . . . if I knew what they did to seal it, I could counter that and reopen the portal."  
"So what can we do?" Dark Eyes asked.  
The Headmaster shook his hooded head, "We can take you three to the castle," He told Brooklyn, "you'll be our guests. We must find a way to open the portal though . . . I wonder if Hijihiro could open it from the other side, he'd need to remember the magical words, and stand at the right spot . . . but the seal is only on this side, so—"  
"So they are stuck here," Alabaster growled, "and our Marshal is stuck on the other side? Who will arrange the morning defenses now?"  
"Our captain of the guard, I imagine." Dark Eyes said calmly.  
"Come now, do you honestly think my cousin would have sent any one of us if we were irreplaceable?" The Headmaster scoffed.  
Alabaster didn't seem to like the sound of that, but he didn't say anything.  
Brooklyn shook his head and said, "So is there any other way back to Manhattan?"  
"Nothing comes to mind." Headmaster admitted.  
Dark Eyes shook his head, "It is not so bad."  
"How can you accept this so calmly?" Alabaster demanded.  
Dark Eyes' eyes flashed red, and he said, "Because it truly isn't that bad! We have three new warriors, and who knows what knowledge they may possess? Obviously we've lost the marshal, but he is not dead. Hijihiro may yet be able to reopen the portal, then he will return to us, perhaps with a clan of reinforcements in tow!"  
Brooklyn didn't bother to mention then that aside from Goliath, Dark Eyes and Alabaster had already seen their entire clan.  
Lexington spoke up and said, "Goliath will stop at nothing if he thinks there's a chance to reach us," he looked at Brooklyn as if asking for confirmation, Brooklyn could only manage a weak nod, "he'll tap any resource, and Xanatos's too."  
"A fair wager." Hudson said, stroking his beard.  
"Then it is agreed." Headmaster said, "I will devote myself to reopening this gate, and we will trust that our friends on the other side will do the same." He moved his hands about, in the dim torch light Brooklyn saw a shadowy rat appear on the ground. "I will talk to the queen about placing Watchers around this cave, if the rat creatures return to reopen the portal for any reason, we'll know."  
Almasy yawned, and said, "Then let's go back to the castle, I'm beat!"  
"And you need a bath, and new robes as well, you still haven't changed since you escaped those rat creatures." Matthias noted.  
"Whoa, you escaped from the Rat Creatures?" Lexington gasped.  
"Well yeah. They're pretty stupid actually, it's like they let me get away or something." Almasy shrugged.  
"He can entertain us all with the tale _after_ we return to the castle, not so? Or need I remind you that those rats might come back with friends?" Alabaster pointed out.  
Brooklyn nodded, his spirits lifting slightly at the knowledge that the portal could, and eventually would be reopened. All they had to do was survive that long.  
The six Gargoyles took wing, Dark Eyes carrying Almasy, and the Headmaster was carried by Alabaster as they all took to wing and glided to this castle that Brooklyn had endangered himself, Lexington and Hudson just for the chance to see.  
And yet when it came into view he completely forgot the mortal peril they were all in!  
It was perched atop a hill, overlooking an ancient and ruined city, it was perhaps twice the size of castle Wyvern, had several battlements and walls that looked as if they had repelled more than their fair share of attacks, but the true beauty was the fact that Brooklyn could see the silhouettes of gargoyles gliding in the distance!  
"We'd do well to report to the queen directly," Matthias said, "she must be made aware of the situation."  
"I daresay I'll leave you to that," Headmaster said, "I will . . . inform our captain of the guard of the loss of our dear marshal."  
"I ought to—" Almasy began, but the Headmaster held up a hand.  
"You still haven't washed up since your escape from the hooded ones," Headmaster said, "don't you ah, want to . . . look your best?"  
Almasy muttered something, Brooklyn couldn't be distracted from the sight of so many gargoyles, it seemed as if Lexington were miles away when he asked, "Who, or what, are the hooded ones?"  
"We're not sure of their identity exactly, but they're humans who betrayed us and joined the rat creatures." Dark Eyes said.  
"I thought ye said the rat creatures hated the humans?" Hudson asked.  
"Oh my yes!" The Headmaster said, "Vehemently! But I suppose they're willing to work with a few temporarily if it means annihilating the rest of us . . ."  
Brooklyn looked around at all the different gargoyles, and in turn he was certain more than a few of them were looking at him and the others, though none glided up to them.  
He landed, with the rest in front of a pair of very large wooden doors, in front of it stood two hooded human guards.  
Brooklyn couldn't help but ask, "How do they see with those hoods on?"  
"Oh we are well trained to see," the Headmaster said, "You see there is sight, and then there is . . . well, _sight_."  
Brooklyn waited a moment, but it didn't seem the Headmaster was going to elaborate.  
"Headmaster," One of the guard said, bowing low, "The Queen, long may she live, has requested your presence as soon as you returned."  
"What? But I was going to see . . . oh, all right." The Headmaster said, shrugging.  
"Yes!" Almasy said in triumph.  
"The queen, long may she live, has requested the presence of young master Almasy as well." The other guard said.  
"Yes well, then we'd best get this over with." The Headmaster said.  
"Yeah." Almasy sighed.  
"She'll want to see you too, cousins." Matthias said.  
"No." The guard said, "Queen Violet, long may she live, has requested the presence of her Marshal, her Ambasidor, her Headmaster, and the young master Almasy, no one else. We have no orders to allow any strangers to see the queen, and so we will not."  
"Doesn't want to see her finest warriors? Makes one feel like chopped liver, not so brother?" Alabaster scoffed, and Dark Eyes folded his arms.  
"What? But these are our cousins!" Matthias protested, "You cannot possibly treat them so rudely!"  
"It is caution." Said the guard.  
"H-hey!" Said Brooklyn, "It's not problem . . . I mean we could uh . . . look around while we wait, y'know?"  
"Aye, meet some new _friends_, lad?" Hudson asked with a knowing look on his face.  
Brooklyn grinned sheepishly, was he that transparent?  
"Yes . . . Dark Eyes, Alabaster, dare I ask you?" Matthias said.  
"It would be our honor!" Alabaster said, bowing low, Dark Eyes scoffed.  
Matthias nodded and said, "I am sorry cousins, I am sure though that the Queen does not mean to be so rude, she just had no idea we would bring someone back, I'm sure."  
"Most likely," The Headmaster said, "Take no offense."  
"Oh, we're not offended." Brooklyn said, noticing a rather pretty female just off in the distance . . . "eh, we'll see you when your meeting is over."  
"Yes, Iexpect you will." Matthias said.

Alabaster bowed low as their three companions left. Rinsing hesaid, "Now, what shall we show them first? The battlements? The Great Hall? The courtyard, perhaps?"  
They had begun to walk away from those large guarded doors into a small and somewhat deserted market place. Brooklyn wasn't sure what he wanted to see, but perhaps feeling an echo of Brooklyn's desire, or perhaps just eager to meet new gargoyles, it was Lexington who said, "Can you take us to see other gargoyles?"  
Alabaster shrugged, "Certainly, just look around!"  
Brooklyn did just that, there were indeed gargoyles soaring around, in fact a group of them were approaching them!  
A trio, who descended and landed, Brooklyn couldn't believe the look of these three!  
One was enormous, simply gigantic around the middle, he made Broadway—who was in no way emaciated—look slim! He had a deep brown hide, and sunken eyes, his lower jaw protruded quite a bit and he had two very large teeth jutting out of his lower jaw, like a saber toothed cat, only upside down. He had horns like a ram, and long black hair, he wore a loin cloth dyed red and black, with two belts—buckled to one another so that theycould span his wide girth—to keep it on. He had a large, heavy looking club slung over his shoulder.  
Another was old, he seemed older than Hudson, he was thin, he looked frail, his hide was light gray, though at one time it might have been lavender, like Goliath's, he had no beard, but his sideburns, and mustache were ridiculously long! His mustache could perhaps have been tucked into his belt! His hair was stark white, like Dark Eyes', but because of age. He wore a fine silk tunic, decorated with a pattern of gold and red diamonds, he had golden bracers on his legs, and several golden bracelets on his wrists.  
The third was a female, younger than the other two, she had long raven hair, lavender-blue skin that seemed quite smooth and fine, she wore a tunic that seemed to have been painted on, for it could not have been tighter, it was red with black trim. She had on her arms, black gloves that stretched from the tips of her claws, to her shoulders, and on her legs were similar leggings, going from mid-thigh to ankle, she had a spike, or horn protruding about an inch from each shoulder, and she had two horns that started at the top of her head, and sloped downward with her hair.  
"Out of Grund's way . . ." The fat gargoyle growled, shoving Brooklyn roughly to the side.  
The frail looking older gargoyle nodded to Hudson, perhaps out of difference to his age, but paid Brooklyn and Lexington no mind at all.  
The female however gave Brooklyn a calculating look as she wrapped her wings around her like a cloak, then she grinned and set off, turning her head back over her shoulder she said, "Good evening Alabaster, Dark Eyes, and your handsome friends as well."  
Brooklyn grinned, but Alabaster stomped out his hopes by saying, "Queen of the Canyon Clan, she. Fancies our father, not so, brother?"  
"Especially," Dark Eyes said coldly, "since our dear king's mysterious demise."  
Alabaster shrugged, but Lexington said, "Who were the other two?"  
"The fat oaf was Grund, king of the River Clan. The lean geezer—uh, no offense," Dark Eyes said quickly to Hudson, "Is Methuselah, king of the Castle Clan, father of our ambassador Matthias."  
"Seem like nice fellows." Brooklyn grunted.  
"Well we're a bit beneath them, aren't we?" Dark Eyes mused, "The Castle Clan thought they were better than everyone else even before the war started, now they see us as dependant on them because we live in the castle. And the River Clan is tightly knit, his clan continued to talk and trade, but Grund had personally excommunicated all outsiders before the war started. Really that he spoke to you, Brooklyn, must mean that he sees you as something other than living bile."  
"So they're going to see the queen too?" Brooklyn asked.  
"Yes. Well a council of royalty requires royalty, not so?" Alabaster shrugged.  
The five continued their walk, until they came upon a pond, surrounded by benches, and flowers. "This is where we fish," Alabaster said, "not that we do so often, but we keep it stocked, just in case there is a siege."  
"King Grund," Dark Eyes said, "has his usefulness there at least."  
Brooklyn nodded, and noticed a group of pretty females not far off. "Who're they?" He asked.  
"Who? Oh! Uh, no-nobody really, we should be going!" Dark Eyes said.  
"What?" Alabaster scoffed, he looked at the group and grinned, "Oy! I see, running off so soon brother?" Alabaster chuckled, grabbing Dark Eyes and holding him in place, "You there!" He shouted at the group of females, who turned to look.  
Brooklyn had forgotten what it was like to see so many females of his kind! The five young females wasted no time coming over, and even as Brooklyn commanded himself to be suave, debonair, cool, all he managed to say in greeting was . . . "Jalapeno . . ."  
One of them threw herself at Alabaster, who held her close, "My love!" She cried, "When you didn't return I feared the worst!"  
"Of me?" Alabaster scoffed, "I am the finest warrior of my clan!"  
"Of course you are!" Alabaster's pretty friend said, batting her eyelashes at him. She was rather attractive, her golden skin complemented Alabaster's own ivory hue, she wore a fine silk tunic, not unlike the one that Methuselah had wore, her wings were wrapped around Alabaster, her long black hair was tied into four separate pony tails, one over each shoulder, and she had rather large pointed ears, like an elf.  
"Allow me to introduce the most beautiful female in all of castle Thorn," Alabaster said, "This is Goldenrose, the daughter of Methuselah, and her friends."  
Another female, this one orange, with an angular, catlike face and long thick red hair, sat down on a bench, and observed, saying nothing. She wore a sort of fur skirt, and a top that just barely covered her, around her neck was a silver chain, with a small leather pouch fastened onto it, her tail was more like a jungle cat's than anything gargoyle, and even her golden eyes resembled those of a cat.  
Yet another female, this one wearing a tunic similar to Alabaster's, and a sword strapped to her hip, approached them, and glared, hand on sword hilt, at Dark Eyes, who looked like he'd much rather his brother allow him to escape. She had dark blue hair, well combed and so long that it went down to her waist, her skin was turquoise, her fair face was beautiful, but somewhat marred by a scar on her left cheek, and she seemed to have two sets of wings, the typical pair and then a smaller set, it reminded Brooklyn of the robot, Coldfire.  
The fourth female seemed to be focusing on Alabaster and his . . . uh, "friend" with plain contempt on her face, she was small, and the same color as Broadway, her hair, spiked on top, was white, and she wore a silken tunic, colored gold with emerald green triangles patterned along the bottom, and the shoulders, her wings were like Lexington's.  
The final female, Brooklyn noted, looked utterly wild! Her skin was tanned, like Hudson's, and she wore a steel gauntlet on her left hand, like Alabaster, and a glove—the fingers cut away—on her right. Her top half was covered by a shirt of loose fitting mail that resembled fish scales, the mail was topped by a tattered red shirt, her lower half was covered by a violently yellow skirt with splotches of black as if someone had spilt ink all over it, on her ankles were several gold and silver anklets. Her long golden hair was braided into several locks, varying in width and length, and she had a pair of wickedly curved daggers at her side.  
"Their names," Goldenrose said, introducing her little entourage, "are Tigris of the Forest, Danica of the Canyon, Devi of the Castle, and Braids of the River," she smiled at Alabaster, "But who are _your_ friends?"  
Dark Eyes took the opportunity to step away from Danica and introduce them, "This is Brooklyn, Lexingotn, and Hudson of Manhattan!"  
"Brooklyn eh?" Braids asked grinning, "Sound's like a _fun_ name."  
Brooklyn grinned back, "Oh I'm a lot of fun." He said, Lexington cleared his throat and dug his elbow into Brooklyn's side, "What? Yeah, you are too."  
Lexington shook his head, a look that told Brooklyn that he was hopeless, but what could he say? That had been an obvious come on, was he supposed to ignore it?  
"I see you've come back, coward." Danica scoffed, and Dark Eyes glared at her.  
"Now, now, we are all of the same clan, not so Danica?" Alabaster grinned.  
"I wasn't talking to you!" Danica snapped, she glared at Dark Eyes, "Have you nothing to say to me, coward?"  
Dark Eyes shrugged, Alabaster said, "Perhaps the cat has his tongue?"  
Danica scowled, and glared at Goldenrose, "I will see you later, m'lady."  
"Oh fine, go and bully someone else." Goldenrose sighed, and Danica bowed again, and left. Devi sent an affronted glare at Rose, then followed Danica.  
"What was that about?" Lexington asked.  
"I don't want to talk about it." Dark Eyes scoffed. "I told you we should be moving on."  
"Oh you _are_ a coward." Alabaster chuckled.  
Dark Eyes looked as if he might say something, but thought better of it, and just shrugged.  
Brooklyn wanted to spend a bit more time in the company of all these females, learn their names, their signs, their interests, whether or not they were all spoken for, or if Rose was the only one, but a hooded guard came up to them and said, "Brooklyn, Hudson, Lexington, the presence of your leader, and only your leader, is required by the queen."  
"Long may she live?" Hudson offered.  
"Do I _look_ like one of those boot licking door guards of hers? I'm just a messenger." The guard scoffed, "which of you is leader?"  
Hudson looked to Brooklyn, who sighed and said, "That's me."  
"Then what are you doing here? See the queen. Now." The guard said.  
"Oh let me show him the way!" Braids said.  
"We just came from there, I can get there myself." Brooklyn said as Braids, whom he'd just met latched onto his arm.  
"Like I care." The guard scoffed, and he ran off.  
"Unusual guard." Alabaster said.  
"But ye'd best be seeing the queen all the same." Hudson told Brooklyn, "There'll be time to finish the tour later."  
"Oh, I think he's found what he was looking for." Lexington said with a wink, and Brooklyn, who thought Braids was interesting, but would prefer a chance to see the full selection of eligible young ladies before making anything resembling a decision, just shrugged.

**To Be Continued . . .  
****Author's Note:** If you're wondering, the two stupid rat creatures are not the "Stupid Stupid" ones from Bone, though they're meant to fill that role. Note that I've named these ones. They are the newest of my characters since they were created exclusively for this story, no fan art of them exists, their names were a bit of a bother since aside from Kingdok, and Bartleby the baby rat creature that the Bone cousins name, I've got no idea what rat creature names would be.  
I toyed with various pairs, preferring names with a literary basis, something obscure enough not to be over done, but something that would still fit the personalities I had in mind. Among the top runners were Zidan and Zilian (this pair I decided to use after all, but for a different pair) Telemachos and Odysseus (I strongly favored these because of the suffering those two had to go through) Biggs and Wedge, for a moment I considered Ranma and Ryoga and even Spike and Jet! In the end I chose Dingeye and Thura, and I may some day regret it because Dingeye seems like something of an insulting name.  
However, like their namesakes these two are likeable, sort of cute in a way, would rather feast than fight in a war, are or will become deserters from their evil army, are hunted creatures, not beyond crying like babies to obtain pity, and in the end don't really mean to cause harm, even though they will. Now ten points to the person who can tell me what wonderful book the names Dingeye and Thura are from.

This chapter is a bit longer than the others, I'm weaning you off of shorties now that we've gotten to trust each other . . . heh-heh.


	6. The Captain

**Your Beloved Writer: **I for one have no problems seeing the lines inbetween my paragraphs, but out of curiosity I have decided to double line everything and see how it looks.

**Part Six  
****The Captain**

Loki rushed away from his new pawns, annoyed that the human lieutenant had spotted him in his human disguise, and ordered him—HIM!—to deliver a silly message to those gargoyles!

Yes, hewas annoyed. But not angry, it took a great deal to make Loki angry, and when he got angry he tended to lose control of his form, he was not quite as accomplished at shape shifting as Skadi was. He sighed as he neared the captain's quarters, and increased his pace, not wanting to be caught by some other lieutenant and asked to run another errand.

Normally a guardof his imitated rank andposition could just say he was going to see the captain, and assuming the captain was home and available there'd be no problem.But what was the fun of that?

He grinned, and slunk into the corridor, the door guards were gone, which meant that the captain was not home . . . good.

Loki easily picked the lock and entered the room, it was sparsely furnished, and he sighed. There was a small table, a mat which didn't look like it made a very comfortable bed, a weapons rack that held a bow and had room for a pair of missing swords, and a small chest . . . there didn't even seem to be anything worth stealing!

"Hmm . . . maybe I'll send more gifts." Loki mused, the captain definitely needed more possessions, Loki wasnt even sure what had happened to that _other_ gift he hadleft. Loki personally believed that having too many possessions was like having too much fun: impossible!

* * *

Hudson stroked his beard in thought, surveying his surroundings. Brooklyn and Lexington, perhaps distracted by the gaggle of young females, probably hadn't noticed that there was a group of humans and gargoyles nearby watching them, and having what appeared to be a heated conversation. 

Curious, Hudson approached them, immediately half the group fell silent, leaving Hudson with little reason to doubt who it was they were talking about. Nonetheless he greeted them, "Hello to ye, and who might ye be?"

The group, which consisted of five humans and three gargoyles didn't answer right away, but when it seemed no one else would respond, a tough looking human stepped forward, wearing the same hooded uniform as the others, he pulled his hood back, revealing a heavily bearded face, his left eye was covered by a leather patch, and he had two deep scars running over that side of his face.

"I am called Fydor, a Lieutenant of the crown, and a member of the Lavender Guard," The scarred man said, proudly presenting a violet sash wrapped around his waist, Hudson noticed that all of his companions also wore those sashes.

"And why don't you and your comrades come over and introduce yourselves?" Hudson asked, purely out of curiosity.

Fydor looked at his companions, as if one of them might be more than welcome to answer for him. When none of them did, he said, "You see elder, we . . . have certain duties. Though you are accompanied by Queen Tigris, you must understand that we cannot allow you to roam about, sword in hand until . . ."

"Until ye feel certain I'm not to be attacking anyone in this castle full of soldiers?" Hudson said with a grin.

"Uh . . . something like that." Fydor admitted. "We uh . . . have certain duties, as I've said, and mean no disrespect, but we must claim any weapons you have upon yourselves, this means your sword."

Hudson considered this, it seemed a simple enough request, he reached for it but someone said, "Stop!"

Hudson looked around and saw a hooded figure approaching, he was quite tall, and like Kisaragi he wore Asian armor on his shoulders, waist and shins to supplement the armor worn by the other soldiers, he had two swords strapped to his side, a katana, and a smaller sword, as he approached the soldiers all drew their swords, and bowed.

The man looked—or rather turned his head—in the direction of Hudson, "Why are you insulting our guest?"

"It is the law, newcomers must turn in their—" Fydor began, but the man cut him off.

"No, the law says "strangers" must turn in their weapons until proven trustworthy, these ones have already fought alongside our Headmaster, so they are no longer strangers. I believe we can trust them."

"O-our apologies." Fydor said, he bowed low, then turned to his companions, who all seemed a bit more cheerful, and said, "We'll not be confiscating the weapons then."

The group bowed low, again, and the hooded man said, "Shouldn't you be patrolling?"

"Er, yes! Uh, I mean you lot heard your Captain of the Guard, now kick it up and get on that patrol!" Fydor shouted to his crew, who snapped to attention and marched off in an exaggeratedly professional manner.

The captain sighed again, and said, "I'm sorry. They just had the kingdom's best interest at heart, ever since word escaped that humans had again defected to the enemy, the Crown Guard have been trying to enforce the law more strictly."

Hudson waved the words away, "Bah! The lads are just doing their duty, I'd have given up me sword . . . provided I'd be getting it back."

The captain shrugged, "I remember when I first came to Atheia . . . I slept with my swords, for fear of the Rat Creatures."

Hudson stroked his beard, and said, "Would ye be from Kisaragi's crew then?"

The captain pulled back his—er _her _hood, revealing a pretty young woman's face. She looked youthful, though her eyes betrayed a great level of maturity for one so young. Hudson noted now that the figure he had assumed to be male, did seem more curved in the manner of a human woman. Her eyes were a soft brown, and her hair, black and not quite long enough to reach her shoulders was, like so many others here, unruly. She bowed low and said, "I am Kisaragi Hiromi, formerly of Japan, currently of Atheia. I am the daughter of Kisaragi Hijihiro."

Hudson bowed low as well, though not as low as Hiromi since his back would complain too vhemently about that, he said, "I am Hudson, formerly of Scotland, currently of Manhattan."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Hiromi said softly. Rising, she looked over to the group of younger gargoyles, who were watching them now, and said, "the small one that accompanies you . . . he has no sword."

"No . . . we've not much need for them, where we come from."

"I see." Hiromi said, "Where I come from, a sword is all that stands between you, and death. Between raids by the Takeda clan, and the unwanted attentions of the Uesugi, we who served the honored lord Hojo must learn at a young age that war . . . and death, are never too far away to affect us. Almasy has told me of his country, a place where there is no war for years at a time . . . if it is nota lie,I pity him."

"Why's that?" Hudson asked.

Hiromi smiled weakly, "My brothers all died in war. My village, a harmless little place was annihilated because it stood in the path of an enemy army, my mother was killed by Rat Creatures not long after we arrived in Atheia . . . _I _have killed . . . _so many_ Rat Creatures . . ." Hiromi said in almost a whisper, sounding ashamed, "But I was prepared for it. Warfare is all I have ever known. I have been trained in the ways of Bushido since my youth, precisely because war is the world I have grown up in. For me, this is another battle field, I serve my new daimyo, Queen Violet, and will battle her enemies to the death because I have sworn fealty."

"I've never heard of female samurai." Hudson said.

"Well you wouldn't have, would you?" Hiromi smiled, "I've always been tall . . . my father insisted that I was a boy, in this way I was able to learn the way of the sword . . ." she frowned, "all four of my elder brothers died in honorable battle, I was all that was left of my father's children . . . through a series of unfortunate events, I became a samurai, posing as my older brother Hiroji."

Hudson shrugged, "So why pity Almasy? He's been spared all the pains of war."

Hiromi nodded, "And has therefore been caught completely unprepared for the pains of this one. He's gone, as he would put it, from the frying pan into the fire, the worst he ever saw was television . . . whatever that means. Now he has seen wars, has fought in battle, has witnessed . . . an incredible slaughter."

"Are the rat creatures that bad?" Hudson asked without meaning to. Obviously they were if they had reduced five healthy clans to the size of one!

But Hiromi shook her head and said, "Oh no! They weren't the ones doing the killing that day." She sounded somewhat mournful, and Hudson decided it would probably be best not to ask the question of "who was" since it must have obviously been the Atheians.

The sorrowful way that Hiromi spoke of the fallen Rat Creatures made Hudson wonder somewhat if her loyalty was truly to her queen and Atheia . . .

"But . . . my presence must bore you!" Hiromi said suddenly, "I should be going anyway, though if you are permitting I would like to speak to you again later . . . Goron!" She called.

A grunt came forth, and a gargoyle appeared, he was elderly, like Hudson, but his forearms were as wide as a gorilla's, in fact his simian face, and somewhat pointed head, his oversized arms and smaller legs made him rather resemble one. He had wings like Lexington's, and white hair on his shoulders, and forearms, his hide was a dull gray, he wore animal furs similar to Tigris'.

"This is Goron, of the Forest." Hiromi explained, "He is our Lore Master . . . uh, the gargoyle's lore master I mean, he knows the gargoyle history better than any, save Methuselah who was there from the beginning . . . I do not mean to thrust you upon different company but I've got to meet someone." She said, and bowed low, then left.

Hudson was a little taken aback, they'd gone from simply chatting, to suddenly separating, and while he was not completely certain how he felt about the captain of the guard at the moment, he wasn't sure he wouldn't have preferred speaking to her over this elderly gargoyle, who looked like he might even be, somehow twice as old as Hudson himself!

Hudson definitely wasn't used to being around others his own age, not anymore. But it was sort of nice not to feel so ancient.

"Well . . ." The old Goron said slowly, "What would you like to know first?"

"How about," Hudson said, "ye tell me of a good sitting chair?"

Goron smiled warmly, "Ah yes. I can see you've lived long enough to know what is _really_ important."

**To Be Continued . . .**

**  
****Author's Note, Kisaragi Hiromi:** Hiromi is one of my favorite original human characters. She is from theWarring States era of Japan,so look it up.She was never meant as more than a background character, but I liked drawing her. She's a warrior, has been trained most of her life to kill, and took up the sword even before her official training as a samurai. However, at the same time she hates killing, and hates seeing death. She is a very powerful Veni-Yan Kari, or Awakened One, one of five in this storyasside from Violet, Leif, Thorn and . . . well the last one is a surprise.

But the great fun of Hiromi is the fact that she has so many admirers, there's Leif, Loki, and Almasy, yet she is completely ignorant of this, her self esteem is very low. She's not quite as depressive as Tigris though, and far more vocal. Hiromi was always interesting enough to base a story off of, yet would fade herself into the background in such a manner that such a story was never needed. Like a good back up singer, she rarely distracted attention from the true heroes, none the less she was there to chime in a just the right moment and fadeinto the background. Though I am giving her more "flesh" in this story, she's still not meant to over shadow the truly important characters like Thorn, or Lexington, nonetheless she is useful.


	7. Goliath!

**Part Seven  
****Goliath**

Goliath soared through the sky towards central park, hardly bothered as Elisa tightened her grip around his neck to keep from plummeting to the ground below.

He had been discussing a case with her and her and Matt Bluestone when Broadway found them, now Goliath, Elisa, Broadway, Bluestone and Angela were all headed for central park as fast as their wings could carry them.

"You're sure they were gargoyles?" Bluestone asked, as he held onto Broadway.

"It's kinda hard to miss, wings and all." Broadway pointed out.

"And you're sure they're trustworthy?" Elisa asked.

"They are gargoyles." Goliath said as if that were all the answer necessary.

Of course it wasn't, there were many examples of untrustworthy gargoyles, and Elisa knew it. However Goliath didn't know that these two strangers were trustworthy, nor did he have any way to find out until they arrived, and Elisa it seemed trusted him enough not to press the matter.

Angela on the other hand said, "I did not feel that they could be trusted. Alabaster seemed . . ." She trailed off, perhaps unable to find the word.

"All I know is they said they needed help, and they needed to see you!" Broadway told Goliath, "They said there were more of them in central park!"

Goliath shook his head as he glided towards central park. Avalon had guided him and Elisa to various clans of gargoyles around the world . . . most of them were small. But if there was yet another clan out there that needed help, Goliath would risk everything to help them . . . it was the gargoyle way.

But when they arrived in central park they failed to find anything from the air.

"Maybe we should set down and look around on foot." Elisa suggested.

Goliath agreed, and landed. The others followed his example, and they began to look around.

Broadway even went so far as to shout out, "Brooklyn!"

There was no answer.

"We should split up." Angela said, "I have a bad feeling about this . . ."

"So you want to split up?" Bluestone scoffed, "Hey, that's the mistake that those kids with the dog make every episode, and every time they get chased around by some monster."

"How terrible! How do they get away?" Angela gasped, but Elisa brought the unnecessary discussion to a close.

"This isn't the time to wow us with your knowledge of cartoons, Matt." Elisa grinned.

"Just saying." Bluestone shrugged.

Goliath shook his head and said, "He is right, we should stick together . . . if these strangers are not to be trusted . . ." he let the implications hang gravely in the air as they began the ground search.

* * *

The rat creatures ran on all fours along the walking path, which was blessedly devoid of humans with swords! 

There were two humans without swords, but Dingeye had neither the time nor the inclination to quickly kill them, they weren't nearly as important as escaping the sword wielding human who was no doubt still chasing them!

"Look out, Margot!" The man screamed.

"Why does it always have to be _us_?" The woman wailed.

Dingeye ignored them and ran!

"What in the world was that?" The man asked his wife.

"I don't know, but I think that's enough excitement for one night!" She scoffed.

"_Gomen_!" A man dressed as some sick cross between the grim reaper and a samurai shouted to them as he leapt out from behind some bushes, a sword in hand as he chased after the bear like monsters!

"What in the world!" The woman gasped.

"That's it! That is _it_! We're moving!" The man shouted.

"Now honey, don't lose your head!" His wife said, but that's when Bronx, a huge monstrous beast leapt out from behind that same bush barking loudly!

"Uh . . . okay, let's start looking for houses in Canada." She said.

* * *

Goliath heard Bronx's bark and dashed off in that direction. 

"That's Bronx!" Angela said unnecessarily, for everyone was already headed off after the sound!

"Where is he?" Broadway asked.

"Bronx!" Bluestone shouted.

There came a few barks in response, "Sounds like he's getting closer!" Elisa said.

"Yes . . ." Goliath said, then suddenly he heard a loud wail!

"_More! There are _more _of the half-dragons, comrade!_"

Without warning a huge beast, roughly the size of a gargoyle leapt out from behind a tree, and barreled right into Broadway!

Broadway yelled in surprise, the creature turned into a black puff of fur and also screamed, though it's scream was an odd hiss!

Angela threw herself at the monster, knocking it off of Broadway!

"_I will save you comrade!_" Another of the beasts cried as it leapt out from behind a tree . . . and barreled right into its comrade!

"_Thura_ _you idiot!_" The first one roared as both gathered themselves and ran off.

"Stop them!" Angela cried.

"No! We have no idea what they are," Elisa said, "and besides, I think they were more afraid of us than we were of them!"

"Speak for yourself." Bluestone scoffed.

Just then Bronx emerged from the trees along with a man dressed in samurai armor, and a hood! His sword was drawn, but he spared Goliath a look and said, "Yourself must be Goliath, come and let us slay those vile rats!"

"Whoa buddy!" Elisa said, gun drawn, "You'd better put that sword away . . . and tell me how you know Goliath!"

"Told, I was, that Goliath and his would help us now of Atheia fight the rat creatures! Lies, were those?"

"What? What are you talking about? What's Atheia?" Elisa asked.

"Atheia! Kingdom of Harvestars, land of the five clans! Help us, the one called Hudson said you would!"

Goliath looked at the Asian man sternly, "Where is Hudson?"

The strange man looked over his shoulder, and said, "Just behind me I did believe . . ."

Bronx whimpered and indicated that they should go back the way the monsters, the man, and he had come, and Goliath knew that must be the way to find Hudson and the others . . . so he followed.

When they arrived at an odd clearing, Goliath could see the all too obvious signs of a struggle! The armored human rushed forward and shouted! He looked around and said, "Gone is the portal, and a fine battle I missed!"

"Battle?" Bluestone sounded surprised.

"How many do you figure it woulda taken to rip the area up like this?" Broadway asked.

"Not many." The armored man said, "But no bodies am I seeing . . . which leaves no doubts to me of the winners."

"What do you mean?" Goliath demanded.

The armored man looked gravely at Goliath and said, "The rat creatures . . . eat the dead they do."

Angela, a fair bit cooler in the head than Goliath, took it upon herself to question the samurai, who had identified himself as Kisaragi. "What are rat creatures?" She asked.

"Thought you saw some with your eyes." Kisaragi shrugged. "They're great beasts, large as a man and twice as strong. They are monsters! When their numbers are great, they are mindless warriors who fight without regard for the lives of their comrades!"

Angela found that difficult to accept, she thought about the pair they'd seen in the park, the second had attempted to save the first, though it had failed miserably. "For more than a year have Hiroji and I fought!" Kisaragi shouted.

"Hiroji?" Elisa asked, "Is that another samurai?"

"Hiroji—uh, Hriomi, is my son—gah! Daughter!"

"He doesn't sound quite sure." Broadway said skeptically.

"Doesn't matter, does it?" Kisaragi scoffed, "Not important now."

"Maybe not." Angela said, "Tell us what you think _is_."

Kisaragi scratched his bearded chin. "Rat creatures," He said, "are vicious. Every day they attack Thorn."

"So who's Thorn?" Elisa asked.

"Castle!" Kisaragi scoffed, "Castle Thorn, where the last of us fight for the right to _exist_ against the hordes!"

"The hordes?" Angela asked, allowing concern to seep into her voice in order to make the interrogation seem less . . . like an interrogation.

"The hordes." Kisaragi confirmed, "We know not how strong they stand, but they easily out number us, we have less than two hundred warriors and though the gargoyles number three and a half score half of those are warriors, and between the three clans still able to boast war units, the rivalry is fierce!"

"Rivalry?" Goliath demanded.

Angela however, was calmer still, and said, "Why do our brothers rival against one another?"

Kisaragi shrugged, "Superiority and inferiority. The castle clan has long esteemed itself the most powerful and civilized clan, though hardly can a society that allows females free speech be called "civilized"." Kisaragi chuckled, then noticing the looks on Elisa and even Angela's faces, he stopped abruptly and said, "Erm, the castle clan has fallen on hard times. Only three warriors remain of any prominence, Falco, Angelo, and Noori. Still they act in a superior manner, as if better than the rest they are."

"Maybe they are, I mean they've got a castle, right?" Broadway pointed out, and Angela couldn't disagree since a castle _was_ indeed a civilized place to live.

"Well, resentment in the canyon clan this causes."

"The canyon clan being . . ." Angela trailed off.

"The third clan on the social scale, but the most powerful in warriors, between Stone Skin, his sons, Alabaster and Dark Eyes, and that princess of theirs, the canyon boasts the most warriors, and the most skilled." Kisaragi said, "But the least civilized they're considered. Blood thirsty."

"Blood thirsty?" Matt Bluestone raised an eyebrow.

"They were the first clan to take up swords instead of claws, the first clan to launch an offensive battle, and Dark Eyes, son of Stone Skin reinitiated the second war by killing a rat creature to save a human child."

"That just sounds like the right thing to do." Elisa pointed out, and Angela agreed.

"Well," Kisaragi scoffed, "For myself, think I do that they're heathens."

"Heathens?" Goliath growled.

"Rumors are that Stone Skin caused the death of their king, Daemon to steal away their queen, worse there's no hiding his lust for Faeryl, queen of the River clan, and all while the mother of his sons still lives and endures his feigned innocence!"

"Sounds like a rat to me!" Elisa said, "But what's the river clan?"

"Well . . ." Kisaragi said thoughtfully, "Considered to be the second most civilized clan they are, but they're a bunch of half crazed, greedy merchants is what they be. Their job it was to distribute goods from one clan to another using the river as a means of conveyance . . . after the first war they started to demand larger bounties for their services, they even threatened to stop supplying just before everyone had to be confined to the castle. A fine warrior their king Grund would claim to be, but he's lost many a duel, especially to Stone Skin, who he challenges regularly because of the rumors about the great warrior, and queen Faeryl. Their only half decent asset is that crazed witch Braids, but who can tell if it's madness or genius that fuels her strategies? Hiro-kun trusts her, but I . . ." Kisaragi trailed off and scowled.

"Sounds like they need to get with the program, when there's a war going on, you don't charge your own side extra for vital service!" Matt said.

"Last of all is the forest clan, and a great and terrible loss were they. Only remain six of them! By name, do I know each, from silent princess Tigris, who'd be queen if she'd only accept the appointment, to the warrior Scragg Steel Claw, a _true_ blood luster if ever one lived." Kisaragi spat.

"Only six? It's not so different than our own clan . . . in the beginning." Goliath said coldly.

"No, it's very different, father." Angela pointed out, "Your children, my rookery brothers and sisters, all survived on Avalon . . . these gargoyles have lost everyone."

Goliath seemed shaken by those words, and he glared at a tree.

However Angela said calmly, "What about the last clan? You said there were five."

Kisaragi looked down, "Indeed I did. The mountain clan . . . but no word have we heard from them. No aid, nor pleas for help come from the mountains. Assume we do that they were overrun, what the rat creatures would want with the mountain we know not." Kisaragi shook his head, "Heard I have, that they had once a warrior called Alpha that even Stone Skin feared. Gone to dust are they all, as they slept no doubt for I can see no way that the rats, numbers regardless could have taken Stone Skin's better."

"That's . . . awful." Broadway whispered, and Bronx whimpered mournfully.

"That's war." Matt said grimly.

"That it is." Kisaragi said calmly, "And fight it, I will. My wife did I lose to the rat creatures, my daughter suffered to be captured by them only to go through great pain and trouble to escape, and my oath have I given to Queen Violet Harvestar that my katana would I lend her until the war's end. I must return, and you with me needs be."

"And how can we get there?" Goliath asked, fists clenched at his sides, "How can I help my brothers?"

"I . . . do not know. A powerful headmaster we would need." Kisaragi said.

"Headmaster?" Angela asked.

"Er, sorcerer." Kisaragi said.

"I guessed as much." Goliath said coolly. "We'll need Puck!"

Angela very much doubted that. Puck? He couldn't use magic unless he was training, or protecting the baby Alexander, and did Goliath really trust a trickster to transport them to this Atheia place?

Angela knew of another sorcerer . . . or rather, a sorceress, though she doubted she could be found it seemed worth suggesting. "What about . . . my mother?" Angela asked. "Why don't we seek out Demona?"

"Get Demona to help us?" Broadway asked in surprise!

"If she knew our goal was to save other gargoyles, I cannot believe she would refuse." Angela pointed out.

"Perhaps. But we do not know where to find her . . . or even if she still lives." Goliath pointed out.

"If MacBeth's still around it's a fair bet that Demona's alive too." Elisa pointed out.

Goliath seemed unsure, so Angela quickly said, "Of course Puck is closer at hand, and easier to find . . . usually. We should ask him first."

"Ask who you will," Kisaragi said, "But what of the two rats loose in the city?"

"I'll deal with them." Goliath said coldly, and Angela felt a chill run down her spine.

"No! Uh, I mean, let me." Angela said, "You should focus your attention on getting Puck to help us reach Atheia, I'll focus on finding these rat monsters."

"No fewer than two of them." Kisaragi said, "Cowardly as they may have appeared, braver are they when they outnumber their foe."

"Two to two sounds fair to me." Broadway said, punching his fist into his palm, "I'm eager to see how I measure up to one of these monsters! Especially if they've done anything to our friends!"

Angela smiled weakly, Broadway she could handle, Goliath would have been a different matter.

She wanted the rat creatures to be captured before they could cause damage to Manhattan, but she also wanted them alive. Surely the first step to making peace with such an enemy would be to show them that they were willing to offer mercy, perhaps even friendship . . .

**To Be Continued . . .  
****Author's Note:** Gee I wonder if Goliath and the others will ever get to Atheia . . . well actually I don't wonder because I've got everything planned, beginning to end with gaps in the middle to be filled according to my whim and overall reader response. Man am I clever!

Though it wasn't really meant to happen I ended up focusing on Angela here, I hope I got her in character at least. Anyway Angela just seemed right for accomplishing the goal I had in mind for Goliath originally, which is to set out and hunt down the rats. I just felt like Angela wouldbe much less likely to beat down first and ask questions later.I however refused to change the name of the chapter, I still feel it works, and in the end I'm rather happy with this one even though it deviates from its planned course.


	8. True Beauty

**Part Eight  
****True Beauty?**

**

* * *

**

Thor roared in outrage, "That fool hasn't come back yet?" He demanded.

"I know not. I have not seen him." Skadi said.

Thor scoffed. He _knew _Loki, he knew that if Loki wasn't with Skadi, or Father Odin, then he was meddling with the humans, interfereing again, doing _exactly_ what he was not supposed to do!

But that was Loki, he'd just dash the rules if they're inconvenient, it made Thor furious!

He scowled, and stretched wide his wings, he took to the air and headed for Castle Thorn!

* * *

Lexington watched Hudson talking to a tall human woman, "Who's she?" He asked. 

"Just our captain of the guard." Alabaster said as the woman introduced Hudson to a simian looking gargoyle, and departed quickly, "Wonder if she knows about the marshal yet."

"I doubt it . . . I believe she should be told." Dark Eyes said softly, and without waiting for his brother's response, or even a word of 'goodbye', he set off after the captain.

Alabaster followed him, and left Lexington alone, unsure as to whether or not he was supposed to follow them.

He supposed that he should, and was about to do it when Rose said, "You know I daresay you look as if _you_ would appreciate the royal gardens."

"The what?" Lexington asked, confused. Of course he understood what gardens were, but what about him made her think he liked them?

Not that he disliked them or anything . . .

"Why the royal gardens of course! Come now, I'll show you." She looked back at Tigris, who shrugged and got up to follow them.

"So," Lexington said nervously, not wanting to make Goldenrose (who seemed to be a gargoyle of importance) angry, "what do you do for fun around here?"

Goldenrose tittered, "Fun? My dear child, we're at war. There is no 'fun' you can fight and die, knowing that you've no chance for true victory against the enemy, or if you like, wait behind the walls for the battles to end, knowing full well that your beloved—um, I men that your kin might not come back, and that your own survival hinges on the success of your army. No little one, there is no 'fun' around here."

Lexington tried to stand a bit taller, annoyed at being called 'little one', he said, "Y'know I'm not _that_ young. I bet you're not much older than me!"

"Perhaps." Rose shrugged her lovely shoulders, "But do not be offended. There is a beauty to youth that disappears as innocence is lost. You seem innocent."

"Th-thanks." Lexington said, not sure if that was a complement, or an insult. He decided to take it was the former, and followed Rose up a flight of stairs leading to a higher level of the castle, here Lexington did indeed see a large, and magnificent garden!

It rivaled anything he'd seen before, with flowers of sizes, shapes and colors he'd never before seen! It wasn't enough to make him forget how much he'd like a computer, but he was perfectly capable of appreciating it just the same.

"This garden," Rose said serenely, "like the great archive, is one of the things preserved since the first—and hopefully only—fall of Atheia."

"Atheia fell?" Lexington asked.

"Oh yes. Some two hundred years ago." Goldenrose smiled at Lexington and said, "Traitors assassinated the old Headmaster, and used his ancient magic to turn the entire kingdom to stone. The only survivors, were the blind, and the deaf."

"Because you need to see _and_ hear magic for it to affect you." Lexington nodded.

"Exactly. The survivors moved their beloved family members to the royal gardens, arranging them as if they were statues . . . when my father and the other first gargoyles were born on Atheia it was under the guidance and tutelage of the last surviving human, she was old, and dying, but she held on long enough for my father and the other firstlings to come into their own. She taught them to care for and protect the statues, not to tamper with them, and not to allow them to come to harm. She never told them why. She probably didn't know they could be restored."

Lexington looked around and saw not one statue. "What happened to them?"

"They awoke." Rose said softly. "When things seemed their darkest the statues came to life, as if they were gargoyleswaking at moon rise. TheAtheians put use to their swords, many of them had been frozen while still in battle position. They bolstered our forces and we pushed back the rat creatures, though the price was dear."

"They just woke up? Just like that?" Lexington asked.

"Well actually they awoke on accident. I cannot give you the details because I do not understand them . . . Alabaster does, and he will almost certainly boast to youabout his role in it sooner or later." Rose smiled serenely again, "I know that Queen Violet Harvestar is a much better leader for this community, than King Daemon. Not only was he a canyon clan heathen, he was constantly telling us we could win the war."

"What's wrong with that?" Lexington asked.

Rose scowled, "Everyone knows it isn't true."

Lexington scratched his chin, "I don't know, maybe we could negotiate. Violence doesn't always have to be the solution."

Rose laughed, "You see? Your innocence is quite charming, truly beautiful in a way. But alas, you obviously have not seen a true battle. When they begin, the rat creatures gather around the castle in great numbers, in the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands. The position of the castle is strategically beneficial, they cannot surround us completely, the river ensures that any approach from the east would be slowed, and thus far the rats seem to lack the motivation, or perhaps the intellect to build dams and bridges as I would, and luckily the river does not freeze completely in the winter.

Rose looked at the ground, "But when the battle begins the humans on the walls fire volley after volley of arrow, sling stone and bolt into the enemy ranks, if we're lucky, they do not run out of ammunition before sun set. We gargoyles either help on the walls, or, on occasion we glide out and engage the enemy's rear, try to take their attention away from the gates. On two occasions the rats broke through the gates, then it was only sheer determination, and the strength of the sword that saved us."

Goldenrose smiled warmly at Lexington, and he decided she looked prettier when she smiled, than she did when she scowled, "We survive, night by night. We cannot complain . . . and what good would it do is if we could?"

"How did you repair the gates?" Lexington asked.

"We did not. The Queen was able to manipulate the dreaming and cause slabs of stone to block the broken gates, we have only one gate left and if it falls the only way in or out of the castle will be by wing."

Lexington shook his head, "If the Headmaster can get the portal working again . . . maybe you could all just come back to Manhattan with us. We have a castle there, and Xanatos is our ally now . . . he could create new identities for the humans, and the gargoyles could all live in the castle, it would be . . ." Lexington trailed off. He wanted to say it would be like having the old clan, the Wyvern clan back, but he knew it wouldn't. They wouldn't be the same, but it would be lovely nonetheless.

Rose shook her head slowly, "I believe Queen Violet wishes to speak to your friend about that very thing." She smiled, "That is why I wanted to show you the garden."

"What?" Lexington blinked, not quite catching her meaning.

Rose took his hand, he felt a little zap flow through him at her touch, she led him towards a large official looking building, where Lexington saw a half dozen gargoyles and a few humans all perched on the roof.

"Follow me." Rose said, as she began to climb up the wall, placing her hands in holds that had obviously been made through repeated gargoyle climbs, Lexington followed her, and Tigris followed him, the three of them moving single file.

Goldenrose reached the top then helped Lexington get up.

Lexington extended his hand to help Tigris, who took it, but seemed terribly reluctant about it.

Rose took his hand again and led him over to the gathered group of gargoyles and humans.

One of the gargoyles, greeted them, saying, "Rose! They've begun to speak to the Manhattan King!"

"This is Noori," Rose said to Lexington, "Noori, this is Lexington of Manhattan."

Noori nodded. She looked a lot like Rose, except that she was shorter, she wore golden armlets and anklets, and wore a sword at her hip. She had long golden hair tied in just one pony tail, but braided, unlike any of Rose's. Her coloration was different, she was violet instead of gold, and she was somewhat stocky.

Lexington crawled over to the thing that all the gargoyles were gathered around, it was a hole in the ceiling! "This was caused by a gargoyle falling through during last night's battle, he survived but he certainly left a big hole. The queen has ordered it repaired . . . which is what we're doing if anyone asks you."

Lexington nodded his understanding, and looking at the gargoyle, and the human guards gathered intently around the opening watching the proceedings and listening to their nobility speak, Lexington could see that it wasn't likely that the hole would be repaired any time soon.

He looked down and saw Brooklyn, trying to stand as tall as possible, a sure sign that he was trying to look the part of leader. "I know that if he were here, Goliath would want us to help you." Brooklyn said.

"I see." A woman's voice said calmly. Lexington couldn't see its owner from his vantage point, but he guessed it was the queen. "Do not misunderstand me, King Brooklyn—"

"Uh, I'm not really a king actually—"

"Prince then," The queen said, sounding annoyed. She probably wasn't used to being interrupted, "do not misunderstand me, _prince_ Brooklyn, I truly am grateful for your offer, but what can three Gargoyles do?"

"Three strong gargoyles are worth their weight in gold, my queen." The headmaster said, Lexington saw him standing near Brooklyn.

"Yeah! Besides, if we can get that portal open, we can offer you a lot more than just three gargoyles," Brooklyn said, "We've got allies, a clan that doesn't turn to stone at night, Xanatos—a uh, a sort of king of our time, could cook up some steel clan robots—uh, gargoyles made entirely of steel—"

"Hence the name, "steel clan?" The queen sounded unimpressed.

"And," Brooklyn said firmly, "Weapons from out world!"  
"What?" Lexington gasped, but he realized it made sense! Xanatos could give the Atheians weapons! Weapons that could turn the tide of the battle, Xanatos could send Steel Clan robots to Atheia to end the fighting without further loss of gargoyle life! Lexington had thought of what Xanatos could do to evacuate the people, he hadn't thought of what he could do to help them win the war . . .

Or what he might do to them _after _the war was won . . . how he might "get his money's worth" back from the Atheians for any weapons, or robots that were damaged . . .

No, Xanatos might not be the monster that Lexington had grown accustomed to viewing him as, but Lexington wasn't ready to count on that.

"Weapons from your world?" The queen seemed interested now, "What kind of weapons?"

Brooklyn sounded as if he though he'd just won the argument, "Weapons more deadly and accurate than any bow!"

The queen laughed, it was not a nice laugh, more of a condescending, superior titter. "My dear Prince of Manhattan, do you think that slaughter will stop the rat creatures? Oh no, we kill hundreds, perhaps thousands every night, they keep coming. They may have millions of warriors, may have millions just for the purpose of breeding, they reach lethality quickly. Don't you see? We humans can birth new soldiers quickly, but it takes years for them to mature. The gargoyles reproduce slowly, and age even more slowly, how can we expect our guardians to keep their numbers anywhere near to par with the rat creatures? We cannot.

"The gargoyles survived due to sheer ferocity, valor and bravery. We humans are managing to survive with help from our gargoyle allies, who die for us at night, just as we die for them in the day. We do not live for the future any longer, the promise of weapons to come means nothing! We live for the moment, for the day, for the night, for at any time the next attack could come and prove fatal. Weapons are useless unless the hands that wield them still live."

"If you didn't want to live, you wouldn't still be fighting. If you didn't have hope, you wouldn't have bothered to ask us for help. You don't fool me, you want to win this war just as much as I want you to win this war, you have no idea what life is like for us in Manhattan, we protect the humans, who in turn either ignore our existence, or try to put an end to it. Here you humans and gargoyles live together, and I say that's something worth fighting for!" Brooklyn said, "If you wont live for tomorrow, then fight just for the day, we'll fight together and sooner or later it will be the day when the portal reopens, and help comes."

The queen laughed again, this time it was somewhat less rude, she said, "Perhaps. Perhaps I have simply become pessimistic."

"You've a talent for understatement, cousin." Headmaster said.

"Perhaps, but I do appreciate your words, good prince. You are correct, we do have hope; a spark that you could easily whip into flame if word of your clan's impending rescue reach the common ears . . . but I do not want my people to trust in promises that you may not be able to keep."

"You think I'm lying?" Brooklyn demanded.

"No." The Queen said, "I truly believe you want to help us. I believe you would fight with us. But I do not believe my cousin can reopen the portal . . . not before it is too late. The castle has fallen before, if what young Sir. Almasy has told me is true, and the hooded ones truly have returned, then it is as it was before, the castle may fall again. We fell in one night, despite the efforts of our former Headmaster, my mother the queen, my brother the prince, and even the dragons!"

"Dragons?" Lexington whispered in surprise, Rose put a finger to her lips and shushed him.

"Now the dragons have abandoned us, all of them have gone to the earth to become one with the dreaming, we have only our gargoyle allies, and with no offense intended, they cannot breathe fire." The queen said, and many of the humans and gargoyles shared a grim laugh. "The rat creatures have, a seemingly endless number of warriors, and if they have human allies they may well have spies in our midst."

Headmaster spoke up suddenly and said, "I cannot believe my stupidity! Forgive me my queen, but I do not believe the rat creatures could have placed a seal on the portal! Even if they could I should have been able to break it! It must have been one of the hooded ones! And in regards to what I told you before about them . . ."

"Bloody stars . . ." The Queen gasped, "And we've seen at least three?"

Brooklyn suddenly punched his fist into his palm, grinning he said, "Jalapeno! I've got it!"

"_What_ did you call me!" The queen demanded.

"Nothing, but if we captured one of these hooded ones, maybe we could get some information about the portal, even get them to reopen it!"

The Headmaster scoffed, "That may be harder than you think."

"But not impossible?" The queen asked.

The headmaster slowly turned his hooded head in her direction and said, "I believe . . . it can be done."

"How many warriors will you need?" The queen asked.

"I'll go!" Brooklyn volunteered immediately!

The Headmaster nodded, "I need as many as are willing to die for Atheia. It will be a suicide mission, after all."

"You said it could be done!" The queen shouted.

"I also said it would be harder than you think." Headmaster pointed out. "Give me a week to prepare, and I will have a plan, and a number of soldiers in mind."

"Granted . . . if we survive for a week" Queen Violet said coolly.

"What can they be thinking?" Goldenrose whispered, "The headmaster must know that our human allies would never betray their own kind, it is madness!"

"Well if the hooded ones _are_ human, what I'd do is start watching the population for suspicious activities, why do they have to send soldiers on a suicide mission?" Lexington asked.

Rose looked surprised, and said, "I do not know . . . maybe we should ask them . . ."

"Maybe we should . . ." Lexington whispered more to himself than to Rose.

* * *

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note:** The Hooded One. In the BONE universe the Hooded One, one of my favorite characters, is a rogue Atheian warrior monk who allies herself with the rat creatures and attempts to track down and capture Phoney Bone (a.k.a. "the one who bares the star") and eliminate (a.k.a. kill) princess Thorn.

Naturally these mentioned hooded ones are not the same one, nor are they descendants. The Headmaster will explain his suspicion about them in the next chapter, and those suspicions will be confirmed shortly thereafter. The Hooded Ones here wear hoods as something of a mockery to the Atheian soldiers, and because this helps them in negotiating with the rat creatures, for it allows them to appear as powerful Dream Masters, and makes it seem as if they keeps their identities secret, leaving the rats to assume that they're rogue monks on the run, just like they say they are.


	9. Dragon's Roar!

**Part Nine  
****Dragon's Roar!

* * *

**

Brooklyn scratched his head, "So what's your plan?" He asked the Headmaster.

"My plan? I am not sure yet. My _hope_ is to capture one of the hooded ones, and avoid dying in the process." The headmaster shrugged.

"We'll you can count on my help." Brooklyn said.

"Very good . . ." Headmaster said softly, he looked at Brooklyn—at least Brooklyn thought he was looking at him, he still wore the hood over his face—and said, "If you're going to be helping me, then there is something I must show you."

"What? Show me?" Brooklyn blinked.

"Yes. I feel it is important for you to know just what the hooded ones are capable of before you rush to sign up for the expedition." Headmaster took a deep breath and said, "If you'll follow me." The human said as he headed off towards a side door that would lead, Brooklyn guessed, to a lower level of the castle.

Brooklyn prepared to follow, but suddenly the Headmaster's hooded head snapped around in the direction of the large doors to the court, Brooklyn turned around too and saw the two large doors opening wide, and a woman entering.

She was, Brooklyn guessed, part of Kisaragi's group, judging by the Japanese armor she wore along with her Atheian robes, and the katana she had at her waist, rather than the longsword that all the Atheian's wielded.

"Who's that?" Brooklyn asked, but the Headmaster didn't seem to hear him, instead he stood up a little straighter and pulled back his hood.

Brooklyn was surprised by what he saw, he'd expected the headmaster to be an old man, but he wasn't. He wasn't even middle aged, he was probably in his early to mid twenties! He had short hair, though his bangs went down over his eyes—which Brooklyn guessed he didn't use very often anyway— blond but so light in color that it was almost white, he was somewhat pale, but he was young, and aside from a scar on his left cheek, Brooklyn guessed he was even sort of handsome. He bowed to the woman, and she approached him.

"Hriomi!" The headmaster said, smiling, "I uh, I—well I mean—"

"Hiro-chan!" Almasy called, and he came running towards her, he threw his arms around her—she seemed unsure of what to do for a moment, then slowly almost robotically patted him on the head.

The headmaster looked extremely crestfallen all of a sudden, and Brooklyn, knowing the feeling but thinking the poor man was misreading his companion's relationship, sympathized.

"You're safe!" Hiromi said with a smile as she unceremoniously pried herself free of the boy's embrace.

"I can take care of myself!" Almasy said, "Besdies, I had the twins with me."

"You didn't have to worry about him, I ah-I was with him too." Headmaster pointed out.

Blushing, Hiromi smiled at the headmaster and said, "I was worried about you too, Leif."

"Heh. I can take care of myself." The headmaster grinned, running his fingers through his hair, brushing his long bangs back, revealing green eyes.

"He nearly got wasted by a rat." Almasy jeered.

"It was a _big_ rat!" The headmaster cried defensively, "Anyway I—"

"Headmaster!" Queen Violet snapped from her throne.

The Headmaster frowned and bowed to his cousin, "Yes, my queen?"

"We have already spoken on this situation. Remember our discussion." Violet said very coldly.

Leif bowed again, then turned away and said apologetically to Hiromi, "I uh, I must go. I have to prepare Prince Brooklyn . . . uh, Hiromi, you were captured by the hooded ones, perhaps you could—"

"Headmaster!" The queen fairly roared!

"Yes . . . sorry!" Leif gulped, bowed to his queen, bowed to Hiromi, and then ran off towards the door he'd indicated before.

Almasy chuckled, Hiromi looked confused and Brooklyn, far more confused than Hiromi, followed the Headmaster.

"What's all that about?" He asked, the queen hadn't been friendly, she'd treated him with a sort of cold superiority, but she seemed openly aggressive towards her cousin.

"What? What are you talking about? Nothing unusual just happened, forget it." The headmaster said.

"Okay . . ." Brooklyn said, but he recognized a lot of himself in the Headmaster . . . at least the hopelessness he felt whenever he thought about his incredibly unsuccessful love life. "She seems to like you." He offered.

"Violet? Heavens no, she hates me! She'd be happiest if I _had_ been wasted by a rat."

"I meant that other woman . . . Hiromi?"

"Couldn't know what you're talking about." The headmaster said simply as he took a torch from the wall and led Brooklyn down a long flight of stairs. After just a few steps, he said, "Do you really think so?"

"She was blushing through the whole conversation." Brooklyn shrugged.

"Oh that. No, she does that a lot." Headmaster sighed, "Every time I talk to her she's blushing."

"You don't think that might be _because_ you're talking to her?" Brooklyn asked.

The headmaster was silent for a while, but just as Brooklyn began to wonder if he'd heard him, he said, "Hiromi is . . . just a friend. We have a shared interest in the dreaming, nothing more."

Brooklyn scoffed, "Oh yeah? Well I wish I had a friend like that."

"You'll find one some day." Headmaster sighed, "Someone who you can really connect with, someone you'll be so close to that you'll know where she is without having to see her, because your heart will start pounding in your chest, and if she touches you, even by accident you'll—"

"Just friends?"

"Yes! Uh, I mean uh . . . just a bit further, this way!" The headmaster said, increasing his pace down the stairs.

* * *

Dingeye scowled as Thura complained . . . again. 

"_I haven't eaten since we found those loaves of bread shaped like rocks_!"

"_Those _were _rocks_." Dingeye informed his horribly uniformed, and unintelligent comrade.

"_No wonder they were so hard to swallow!_" Thura gasped.

Dingeye scowled again but didn't comment. They had stalked through this forest for some time, and Dingeye was quite sure that they'd finally lost the insane, murdering human. But that didn't solve all their problems. They were separated from the horde with no way of getting back, and they were both starving.

"_Let's just go back to that place_." Dingeye said.

"_We don't know where 'that place' is_!" Thura scoffed, "_You've gotten us killed_."

"I _didn't order us to go through that portal, it was the hooded one_!" Dingeye cried.

"_True. The hooded ones certainly did seem willing to send us to our deaths, didn't they_? _In fact, they never seem to bat an eyelash when those under their command get wiped out, why they even expect us to eat our own dead_! _How gross_! _You know comrade . . . I don't think the hooded ones are as good for us as they say they are._" Thura said.

Dingeye rolled his large red eyes, "_You're just showing how stupider you are_!"

"_Stupider_?"

"_Yes, don't you see? The hooded ones are good of us because Kingbok says they're good for us._"

"_But Kingbok says they're good for us because the hooded ones _say _they're good for us._" Thura pointed out.

Dingeye shook his head, feeling sorry for Thura, who was just _so _stupid. "_Kingbok knows that the hooded ones helped us win the last war, he trusts them to help us win this war. The flat landers have to be wiped off the face of the land_!"

"_Yes . . . but why_?"

"_Because they're evil of course_!" Dingeye cried.

"_Maybe . . . but then . . . if the hooded ones helped us _win _the first war, why is it that Kinggock died in battle with Odin? Why were we banished underground for a thousand years?_"

"_Well . . . we were only there for two hundred and ten . . ._" Dingeye pointed out, "_Then, because of the hooded ones we broke free_!"

"_We broke free . . . because the half-dragons broke the treaty and entered our domain._"

"_Yes, because the hooded ones tricked them into doing so, which just proves that the hooded ones are good for us._" Dingeye scoffed triumphantly, "_I _told _you, if we're going to be running for our worthless lives together, try to be smarter, like me._"

"_Yes comrade . . . you did say that._" Thura admitted.

Dingeye scratched his chin for a moment, then shook his head, "_Look comrade, we need to use our wits and intelligence_! _This place is full of flat landers_!"

"_None of them seem to have swords._" Thura pointed out.

"_No, but that isn't the point . . ._" Dingeye said, still thinking. "_We're at war with the flat landers._"

"_Just caught on to that, comrade_?" Thura asked dryly.

Dingeye scoffed again, and said, "_Yes_! _I mean _no! _What I mean is . . . stealing is bad. But not if you're at war with the person you're stealing from._"

"_Where are you going with this_?" Thura asked slowly.

Dingeye grinned and his ears perked up, he listened intently for sounds and sniffed the air for scents, he smelled odd things, but what caught his ears brought a toothy grin to his circular face, "Hot dogs! Hot dogs! They taste great with ketchup, mustard, relish, chili, cheese, mayo, whatever! Buy one get one for half price!"

He didn't know what ketchup, or hot dogs were, but if they tasted good together, it stood to reason that they were edible, and if they were edible . . .

"_Come, comrade._" Dingeye said, taking up a military crouch, he began to stalk towards the source of the sound.

"_Where are we going_?" Thura asked.

With a toothy grin, Dingeye only said, "_Hunting._"

* * *

The headmaster stopped in front of a large golden door, after what felt like an hour of walking. 

He smiled, and said, "I'll need your oath. What you are about to see you share with no one."

"Not even Lex?" Brooklyn arched an eyebrow.

"Well, your trusted warriors if you must," Headmaster said, "but this information . . . would destroy the moral of the human soldiers . . ."

Brooklyn frowned, but nodded. He wanted to show that he could be trusted.

The headmaster pushed the doors open, and led Brooklyn inside of a large and luxuriously furnished room. There were suits of armor sculpted for both humans, _and_ gargoyles! There were a dozen swords on each wall, and with each was a name and a portrait, there were several dozen chests against the far wall!

"This is incredible, look at all this treasure!"

"It's nothing. A diversion, just in case an invader ever gets this far. Atheia's true treasures are better hidden." The headmaster walked over to one of the portraits, this one was devoid of sword, he drew his black blade out and bowed his head.

The picture somewhat resembled princess Violet, it was of a handsome young man with short and well groomed brown hair, somewhat elongated bangs, like Leif's, and a cocky grin painted across his face.

"This," Leif said, "was—is, prince Birch Harvestar, younger brother of Queen Violet. He died in the first war, two hundred and twelve years ago."

"Younger brother?" Brooklyn raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm about to explain that." Leif sighed, "But Birch . . . if he were here, he would have dealt with the rat creatures long ago. He was the warrior, I was the book worm. Still, he died. Fought bravely, but died. Must have slain two dozen rat creatures before they took him." Leif turned to Brooklyn, "And take him they did. Though I was not there, through the dreaming I have seen Birch's fall. It was glorious, but all the same . . .

The headmaster sighed, "Glory in battle is only remembered if there are survivors to remember it. Remember that."

"Uh . . . okay." Brooklyn said.

"Birch was killed by one of the hooded ones. I have spent hours since the vision trying to determine which one . . . so that I might take revenge for the loss of my cousin." Leif clenched his fist, "With his blade, Shadow Edge, I have sworn to protect Atheia, have taken the mantle of Headmaster . . . but despite the high ideals I should uphold, I cannot deny my lust for vengeance."

"I know that feeling." Brooklyn admitted. Even though he tried to let it all go, he'd still take any chance for revenge against Demona, whatever the cost to himself.

Leif placed his sword back in its scabbard and said, "Birch was a fine warrior, and while his control over the Dreaming was limited, it would still have been enough to give him the advantage had he been fighting any normal human. The hooded ones however are not normal, nor are they human."

Brooklyn nodded. The headmaster turned to one of the portraits, a picture of a woman who resembled Violet and Birch, Brooklyn guessed that this must be their mother.

"Greetings, Queen Magnolia." Leif said, "Lovely night tonight."

"Oh shut up." The portrait snapped, coming to life! Brooklyn jumped in surprise, which caused the painting to laugh.

"I require entrance into the lower chambers." Leif said.

"Only _direct _members of the royal family, headmasters, and chosen ones may enter."

"I am the Headmaster of Atheia!" Leif protested.

"Are you? My daughter has poor taste. Or were you the only option?" Magnolia scoffed.

"The lower chamber." Leif said shortly.

"Oh be that way then. You never could take a joke." QueenMagnolia sighed, "For what purpose do you take this outsider into our most treasured of chambers?"

"So that he might understand the enemy we face." Leif said simply.

"Proceed. Do not take anything, you!" The painting shouted at Brooklyn as part of the floor simply disappeared, revealing a winding downward staircase. The headmaster, lighting a new torch proceeded down, and Brooklyn followed.

"She seems to be in good sprits." Leif said.

Brooklyn gave Leif a questioning glance, and the headmaster shrugged. "Queen Magnolia died a hundred and fifty years ago . . . uh, that portrait isn't really her, just a parlor trick that my old master created after our original means of keeping this chamber a secret became compromised. He tried to give it her personality, but it wouldn't let anyone in so he had to tone it down . . . still that was really quite cheerful for her. Almasy says it's like a recording . . . whatever that means."

"Great." Brooklyn said grimly.

They came to the bottom of the stairs, Leif held his torch to the wall, Brooklyn could see carvings of humans, and rat creatures, and . . . were those gargoyles?

No, not gargoyles at all . . . but something similar. Some walked on two legs, some walked on four, or even more! Some were long like serpents, others looked more like dinosaurs, some had long tails, some had several, like gargoyles they were all different, most of them had wings.

Brooklyn easily guessed, "Dragons?"

"Yes." Leif said, "Dragons. The dragons were once the guardians of the dreaming . . . but some time ago, that responsibility fell to the humans. Dragons taught the human dreaming masters everything they ever knew about magic . . . well, most everything." Leif illuminated a large carving of a dragon who seemed to be eating herself from the tail onward, within that carving was another of a six sided star of some kind, "This is Mim, the queen of dragons."

"Real dragons?" Brooklyn asked, trying to absorb this. It was like a children's story, Brooklyn only knew about the three races, humans, gargoyles and Oberon's children. Of course Goliath had found a fourth race, and the rat creatures certainly did seem to be a fifth . . . but a sixth? Dragons?

"Yes, real. But their queen, while once a major problem, is no longer our concern. The dragons have dealt with her. Here," He said, leading Brooklyn further down the line, "Is the council of dragons. Nine wise and powerful dragons. Two hundred and twelve years ago, they decided to leave humanity to it's own devices and sleep beneath the earth for the rest of eternity. We now have reason to believe that some dragons refused to abide by the council's decision."

Brooklyn looked to Leif, he felt he knew where this was going.

"Two hundred and twelve years ago, I fought in the third great war. The battle was gruesome and when we thought it was finally over, we were ambushed by second horde, led by a human traitor. A hooded one." Leif said softly. "I fought with her myself, in the great library where I was forced to break my oath to my old master, and use the magic I had learned for offense rather than defense. I had no idea then that the woman I faced was not really a woman . . . until she grew tired of our duel, and resumed her true shape."

"True shape?" Brooklyn asked.

"A dragon. I nearly died then, I escaped and tried to warn my cousin, but it was too late. All I managed was to take one of the beast's hands . . . still, even handicapped she went on to cast the spell that would turn all of Atheia to stone for a thousand years!"

"A thousand years . . ." Brooklyn whispered, "But then—"

"We awoke prematurely." Leif said, "I told Violet about the dragon, she assured me I was wrong. Later, Hiromi was captured by the hooded ones, there were now two of them, both had taken the form of beautiful human women . . . one of them was missing a hand. I knew when she told me that, that we were facing at least one dragon."

Brooklyn stiffened, "How did Hiromi escape?"

"One of them let her go. Simple as that, as if their power was so great that a single samurai hardly mattered to them. Hiromi returned and things went back to normal, Violet ordered me not to tell anyone what I knew . . . no one needed to know, she said."

"She's letting you tell me?" Brooklyn asked.

Leif grinned, "Yes well, that was the situation then. Things have changed. Almasy was captured two days ago, and like Hiromi he survived. She was released, but the boy had to escape, which he did this very night, during his attempt he found the portal that we're going to try to reopen. When he got back to the castle he told Hiromi, who in turn informed me, that there had been _three _hooded ones, two male, and only one female. They dictated over the rat creatures, even their king. This means that rogue dragons lead the horde that fights against us."

"At least four? Two male, two female?"

"Well at least one. The others might be real humans . . . I don't know. If they are dragons, and if they could change their image at will, the second female might have been one of the males, it could have been an attempt to make us believe there were more of them. None the less even one dragon was enough to destroy Atheia before."

"Why not now?" Brooklyn asked.

"I do not know." Leif said, sounding grave. "For some reason they are acting behind the scenes this time, during the last war they simply attacked, the traitor dragon used her magic, as well as her fiery breath to wreak havoc amongst our soldiers. They are restraining themselves now. I do not know why. None the less the portals around here, were, we believe, made by the dragons, placing a seal that I cannot break on one of them would be well within their means." Leif shook his head, "And if Violet wants us to capture one . . . well . . ."

"You took the hand from one." Brooklyn pointed out.

"Yes, but se was distracted at the time because she wastrying to kill Violet, and she was in her human guise, had she been in her true body—which by the way is really large—I'd never have cut through her arm . . . even with Shadow Edge."

Brooklyn looked at the various dragon carvings. "So . . . we have to capture one . . . is there another option?"

"What do you mean?" Leif asked.

"Well . . . if these dragons are rogues, if the council ordered all dragons below ground for eternity and these ones are disobeying that decree . . . we could get the dragon council to drag them down kicking and screaming, and maybe open the portal while they're at it."

The headmaster smiled, "You're thinking of a way to solve this warwithout blood shed. That's good. Try not to change your way of thinking after your first few battles . . . if you survive that is."

"Uh . . . thanks . . . I think." Brooklyn said.

"Unfortunately, Deren Gard, the entrance to the home of the dragons, has collapsed. So has Tanen Gard, Devas Gard, every "Gard" we know of is destroyed. The dragons have gone to sleep, and they do not want to be woken up." Leif scratched his chin, and smiled, "My ancestor, Queen Thorn once woke them up after their council had made a similar decision. They were not pleased. But they did end the war, and some of them, The Great Red Dragon, and Odin for example, remained to protect us during the third Great War. Of course it was on the night that they abandoned us that the traitor revealed herself, and the rat creatures destroyed Atheia." Leif smiled, "I wonder what Thorn would do . . . unfortunately she _really_ can't be woken up."

Brooklyn shook his head, not really sure what to say, he just said, "That's too bad."

The Headmaster looked at Brooklyn and said, "There is just one other thing I want to show you." He said, and he led Brooklyn further down the corridor, Brooklyn followed and the headmaster brought him to a large circular chamber, inside were tapestries, paintings, piles of gold coins and precious stones, ornate swords, and daggers, shields and spears, Brooklyn looked at them all with great surprise and interest, but what caught his eye was a statue . . .

It was of a weird little man—at least Brooklyn guessed he was a man—with a big nose and a completely bald head. He seemed to be shooting lightning out of one finger tip. But what really caught Brooklyn's attention was the carving _beneath_ him, for he rode on a rat creature!

The rat creature was small, and had circular ears instead of the pointed ones that the others had, Brooklyn guessed that his ears hadn't been cropped for some reason. He turned to the Headmaster, "Your people enslaved the rat creatures at some point?" He demanded, believing he finally understood the cause of the war! It was the slaves rising up against their masters of course!

"What?" Leif sounded surprised, "No! No, no, no! We never enslaved them! This statue depicts two heroes of the second Great War, two _Atheian_ heroes. I show it to you so that you will know that at one point, it was possible for Aheians, and rat creatures to be friends . . . or at least allies. I show you this, because I was serious about what I said before. Too few of us still think of the rat creatures as anything more than mindless, murdering monsters. I myself do not blame them for what they are doing . . . no, that's not true. I blame them, but not completely. I know that the dragons are behind it . . . but as you fight with us in this war, I want you to remember that killing the rat creatures needn't always be the goal . . . no matter what Violet might tell you."

"You expect to win a war without killing anyone?" Brooklyn asked in disbelief, then he realized, "Oh right, your magic!"

"All of my spells . . . most of my spells," The headmaster said, "are designed to frighten enemies away, to trick them into retreat. If all else fails I can repel them in other ways. But they only work on small numbers, just tricking twenty can wind me, if I ever tried to frighten more than fifty I might utterly exhaust myself."

"That's still a big number." Brooklyn pointed out.

"Not compared to the horde of enemies." Leif said simply, "They attack us in the hundreds, perhaps even the thousands . . . we've never taken a head count, you understand."

"How do you all survive when there's so few of you?"

"Almasy told me that heroes of his country have done it before, in a place called Alamo. Hiromi's people often charged eagerly into larger numbers. It is not uncommon, I thought." Leif said, sounding surprised.

"Did Almasy ever tell you who won the battle of the Alamo?" Brooklyn asked.

"No." Leif said, "He only said that I should remember it."

Brooklyn frowned, he decided it might be a bad idea to tell the headmaster that the Alamo was lost, and its defenders were slain to the last.

* * *

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note:** In BONE the fact that there is a council of dragons is mentioned, but the number of dragons on the council, their names, or even what they look like. So I created the council, only two of it's members will ever show themselves in this story, so don't mind them. The statue of the strange little man and the rat creature is the statue of Fone Bone and Bartleby from the ending of the series, it was moved before the fall of Atheia, and in a few chapters it'll serve another purpose beyond simply showing Brooklyn that humans and Rat Creatures can live together in peace.


	10. The Canyon Queen

**Part Ten  
****The Canyon Queen**

* * *

Hudson stroked his beard, "I see . . . so ye were all raised up by Queen Magnolia, but what of your true clans? What of the ones that laid the eggs ye hatched from?" 

"Destroyed." Goron shrugged. "Queen Magnolia found us in a cave full of desecrated and destroyed statues; she assumed that we were infant dragons."

"Dragons?" Hudson scoffed.

"Oh yes," Goron said, "They once ruled this land, and the Dreaming as well. Gradually all things were passed down to the humans. But the humans have existed in almost constant strife with the Rat Creatures, the dragons protected them . . . I suppose in a way that was passed to us."

"A Gargoyle can no more stop protecting his castle than stop breathing the air." Hudson nodded.

"What's that?" Goron asked, looking surprised.

"Just ancient wisdom." Hudson shrugged, "I'm ancient and some say it's wisdom."

Goron laughed, it was a deep rumbling sound, "I see. But they would be correct, that is very true, sometimes it feels as if the most frustrating thing about this war is that we couldn't defend our old homes, and we barely protect the castle. There are times that I wish . . . that it could all end. That the Rat Creatures could simply be . . ." Goron's expression darkened for a moment, and then the old Gargoyle shook his head, "Nay, nay, I speak of evil things."

"War breeds anger and hatred in the best of people," Hudson said calmingly, "But don't forget that every life holds value, even those of your worst enemies."

Goron smiled, "And again you speak wisdom. Unfortunately remembering such things are difficult, I have lost my entire clan, save a mere handful, the one that should be our queen is so scarred that she will not even speak to us, let alone represent us on the council, the lies about Kind Daemon's demise grow thicker and thicker so that it is impossible to find the originators, bringing dishonor upon we who swore a debt to that hero, and the rat creatures never stop their war against us!"

"Well . . ." Hudson said softly, stroking his beard, "If they never stop . . . why aren't they attacking now?"

"That means they're planning something. They'll appear soon enough." Goron said softly, "We've just dealt them a devastating blow, and humiliated their new king; it does not surprise me that they are silent for now. Some of us hope that we can enjoy an entire night without an attack, but I for one know better than to hope for such a thing." Goron shook his head, "Resisting the urge to take up a blade and fight becomes more and more difficult."

"Why do ye not?" Hudson asked.

"It is for me to remember the genealogy, and the legend of my clan. Though my clan is dying, if I die the knowledge dies with me, my apprentice, my son is not sufficiently indoctrinated . . . how I wish I could master the writings of the humans, but alas . . . I sometimes feel as if I hide behind an excuse out of fear, but in my heart I know that even if we all die, if the legend can somehow live on it would not be so terrible . . . unfortunately my attempts to learn to write have been largely unsuccessful, the Atheians have awoken relatively recently, and though the young headmaster is teaching me I am a slow learner . . ."

"Why do ye not dictate to the headmaster?" Hudson asked.

Goron slumped, "He has said that he will allow this as a last resort, however he wishes for me to learn to read and write . . . at my age, I wonder how useful it would truly be . . . beyond compiling the records that is."

Hudson stroked his beard and said, "Ye _can_ teach an old gargoyle new tricks . . . but what he does with those tricks is up to him. Your future is ever yours to decide, cousin."

Goron smiled and nodded slowly, "Indeed. You truly are wise. A warrior, and a scholar . . . and can you read and write?"

Hudson tried not to swell with pride, which came surprisingly less easily than normal, "Aye, that I can do to a fashion."

Goron watched Hudson carefully, "Interesting." The old gargoyle said after a while. "Most interesting. Perhaps . . . yes . . ." Goron smiled an odd smile, he seemed about to let Hudson in on the secret when a strong, but talon hand landed on his shoulder.

"The lore keeper of Prince Brooklyn's clan, no?" The beautiful queen of the Canyon clan said, and Hudson turned to see her standing just behind him, wings wrapped around herself like a cape, she squeezed his shoulder gently, "Might I borrow you for a moment?"

Hudson looked at Goron, who seemed reluctant to argue with royalty, and the queen didn't seem interested in taking "no and get yer hand off me" for an answer.

"Excellent! Come with me!" The queen said, leading him away.

Hudson scratched his head in confusion as she pulled him out of the nice, comfortable chair with the least amount of apparent difficulty,

"I would speak more to you later, Hudson of Manhattan." Goron said, and he turned back to the fire and gazed into it.

"What are ye—" Hudson began, but the queen led him on, they came to a winding staircase which they climbed, despite Hudson's half formed protests and the ache that began to climb up his back.

They emerged into the cold dark night atop a high battlement, the queen stretched her arms out as if showing him to take in the entire world, and she said loudly, as if making a proclamation, "This is the Castle Thorn, named for the human queen who rebuilt her kingdom from the ground up! A mere human girl who spent much of her life believing she was a mere farmer, a peasant, a nobody, but who learned overnight that she was destined for greater things!" The queen turned back to Hudson, "A fitting name, I think, and an admirable young woman."

Hudson nodded slowly, he'd heard little of Thorn from Goron, but he supposed that if this castle truly needed a name, as humans seemed to believe, naming it after a heroin who had built herself up from nothing wasn't such a bad way to go about it.

Hudson took a moment to take in the sight of the canyon queen. She was wrapped in clothing that hugged her curves so fiercely that the imagination had little work to do, she was not young, but she was not old, she was certainly younger than Hudson, probably not much older than Goliath, yet in comparison to the other two leaders that Hudson had seen her with before, she was just a child! How had such a youngster become queen? How did the canyon clan choose . . . what was her name?

"I dinna catch yer name lassie." Hudson said.

The Queen's eyes narrowed slightly, "I am . . . that, is not important." She walked over to the edge of the battlement, and sat, staring down at the people below. "I do apologize for taking you away from what was no doubt a comfortable meeting . . . but I _must_ know about your Manhattan, about your Prince Brooklyn, and your King Goliath." She held her legs to her chest, "This Goliath . . . is he a powerful warrior? Like out Stoneskin?"

"I've not met Stoneskin . . . but I've not met a finer warrior than Goliath, nor a greater friend. He's a fine leader, though I wouldn't call him 'king'."

"Oh." Queen Canyon said. "I see. But Prince Brooklyn?"

"The lad?" Hudson stroked his beard, there was something about the way that she had asked about Brooklyn, something there beyond the interest she had in Goliath and Manhattan.

Something, perhaps her tone told Hudson that it was not attraction, though it probably wasn't far from it. That she was a bit older, well somehow Hudson doubted that would cause Brooklyn to so much as hesitate, perhaps he should try to ward her away? For Brooklyn's sake?

No, he was not sure what it was about this female that made him uneasy, it was probably her style of dress, or the fact that she refused to give her name, but he would trust his cousins, they were, after all, gargoyles and while he might need some help now and again, overall Brooklyn could look after himself.

"Brooklyn is a fine warrior, and I've come to respect his leadership." Hudson said honestly, "I trusted in him enough to follow him here to Atheia, and I trust he'll find a way to get us back to Manhattan. My only fear is that the rat creatures will follow along with us."

"Oh I do not see why they would." Queen Canyon said simply, "They are too obsessed with the destruction of Atheia, once it falls, once we are all dead, you may begin to worry." She lowered her head, "This Brooklyn . . . mentioned a King Xanatos, said we could all live in safety and peace. Did he lie to the council?"

Hudson blinked, "He said Xanatos would give ye safety?" Hudson asked, a little surprised.

The queen leapt down from the edge of the Battlement and advanced a few steps on Hudson, she looked extremely concerned, "Did he lie to us?" She asked firmly.

"Nay. I don't suppose he would have." Hudson said, putting a hand on the hilt of his sword, which for some reason gave him comfort. "But with Xanatos, what ye see is not always what ye get. He might grant ye safe haven, might have weapons to fight off the Rat Creatures, but I wouldn't trust him not to expect something in return."

"Whatever he could ask for," The Queen said, wrapping her arms, and then her wings around herself, "would be better than this." She closed her eyes for a moment, "Now I pray, tell me of Manhattan?"

"It is big, bright and loud." Hudson said frankly, "A gargoyle can lose more than himself in that city, it harbors dangers all of its own, and few as obvious as an army of giant rat-like monsters." Hudson looked at the queen; it would be pointless to ask her if she was thinking of moving her clan to Manhattan because she obviously was. "I think ye'd like it there . . . after ye had time to adjust."

The queen smiled, "Thank you wise one." She said, and though the tone of her voice was sincere, Hudson felt strangely, as if the gratitude of this female was not something he wanted.

For the briefest of moments, Demona came to his mind and Hudson mentally recoiled!

'This is _not_ Demona.' He told himself. They did not even look very much alike, though there _were_ similarities . . . still there was something about her that brought the traitorous sorceress to mind.

And Hudson expelled it right away, he would trust in his cousins!

He smiled, and bowed low to the queen, "I don't doubt when the time comes, relocation of all yer clans would be the wisest course. Ye and your clan could live a happy life in Manhattan, but let us hope that it never comes to that. It is never easy for a gargoyle to abandon their home."

"No. Of course not." The queen said softly. She smiled at Hudson and said, "However, what is easy, and what is right is not always the same thing."

Hudson smiled, "Wisdom." He said.

"Taught to me by my mother." The queen said softly, but then she spread her wings and stepped over to the edge of the battlement, she turned to Hudson and said, "I've taken enough of your time . . . I must go."

She took off without another word, leaving Hudson to stroke his beard in wonder.

Why did he feel so strongly that something was no right? He turned and departed down the stairs, never seeing the second and third eavesdropping gargoyle forms glide off after the queen.

* * *

Loki grinned mischievously as he watched Captain Hiromi Kisaragi—or was that Kisaragi Hiromi—speaking to a pair of her subordinates.

She seemed to be displeased, and she had good reason, in the blink of an eye she'd gone from being her father's second in command to suddenly being the marshal of the entire Atheian military! Loki thought that in a major way he was really the reason she'd received such a promotion, she ought to be thankful.

Loki was disguised as a hooded guard of Atheia, but beneath that hood he was the unrealistically handsome human man that he had pretended to be so very often. He certainly hoped that some human out in the world had a face like this, because if they didn't then his disguise just made the human species look all the uglier.

He was about to draw back his hood and approach Hiromi with every intention of asking her if she might like to do something romantic. Of course for him such intentions often proved to be his enemies as his naturally sarcastic nature only made such propositions seem like rude jokes . . . he could breath fire and he could manipulate kings and queens, he could lead armies to their deaths and come out without a scratch, but dash it all he couldn't tell this simple human woman what he really wanted to tell her!

He hesitated for a moment, which was long enough for her to dismiss the soldiers, and begin to hold her head as if she had a terrible migraine. He supposed he could comfort her, and assure her that she would do a good job as marshal—then back up the assurances by making sure that the rats suffered a major loss in the morning—but before he could move a strong arm grabbed his shoulder, he turned around with fury in his eyes, a hooded guard stood there, Loki scowled, was he to go on another errand?

But no, this guard didn't smell right. Loki tensed even more as the man drew back his hood, revealing a handsome enough face with an unattractive amount of stubble.

"Bloody Stars, Loki! You _know_ father Odin does not want you interfering with the humans! I knew you would be here, I _knew_ it!" Thor said.

Loki shrugged helplessly as his twin's face contorted with both self righteous fury, and downright unbridled anger. "I uh—" Loki said, but Thor shook his head.

"No. I won't hear it. Do you think I do not care about these beings? Protection is in our blood, we have protected Atheia since the first queen took the throne! But the time has come for them to stand on their own, and stand or fall they stand alone!" Thor growled.

Loki blinked and realized that Thor was speaking in a dragon code language. Any human who might overhear them would gain nothing from the conversation, though it might seem suspicious.

Loki had to think for a moment; really he was only observing . . . all interaction had been initiated by humans thus far. At least that could be argued, but he had a feeling that as usual the tricks that worked on father Odin wouldn't swing with Thor.

So Loki grinned on the inside, and sighed pathetically on the outside. "I just . . ." He trailed off, and sighed again.

Thor's expression softened as he noticed Loki's gaze "accidentally" wandering towards Hiromi. Loki knew that though Thor was a big strong dragon with a rough side that could make a rock look like jam, but he was at heart just a big softy, and it was a weakness that Loki loved to exploit.

Thor simply didn't understand why any dragon wouldn't want to protect humans, didn't understand why any dragon might want the war to continue, didn't understand Loki. Eventually, it would be his undoing.

"She is a human and meant to be with a human." Thor said, though his tone had softened considerably.

"I know . . ." Loki sighed. "But I . . . just wanted to check on her . . . I understand her father was slain, I wanted to be sure she was all right."

Thor shook his head slowly, "Any comfort you might offer her would only violate Father's rules."

"You know that I have always believed that rules can be bent." Loki said. Actually it was true, he had always believed that. However, all in all Loki preferred them broken all together, why merely bend what would be more fun to break?

Thor seemed to be fighting an inner battle, Loki thought briefly of how lovely it would be if his brother's inner struggle somehow proved fatal, at least for the bug up his tail, having a brother more like himself would be nice . . . though a bit of a threat.

"You can . . . observe her. From afar of course." Thor finally decided. "Do not touch her!" He added sternly.

Loki threw his hands up and said, "I would _never_!" He lied. Well, really it was more of a half spoken truth. He had "forgotten" to add 'without permission'.

Thor shook his head slowly, and said, "Well you . . . you . . . trouble maker!" Thor said with a sort of strange mix between exasperation and brotherly affection, "Return to the lair before sunrise, or I shall tell father of your attraction to the human woman."

Loki nodded, he had every intention of returning before dawn . . . provided he felt like doing so when the time actually came around. He had this problem with actually caring enough to obey, most youths knew how that felt, and even though Loki was two hundred and twelve years old that was still pretty youthful to a dragon.

* * *

**To Be Continued . . .  
****Author's Note on Dragons**: Frankly "The Great Red Dragon" never struck me so much as a name as a title. Odin is not the same Odin from the Gargoyles series, he is a dragon. Originally he was the serpentine dragon from BONE who appears in a few issues along with Great Red, only drawn with some quirks, sharper teeth, and eyes. It was my decision early on that serpent dragons like the ones in Asian mythology would be the good and benevolent variety, but the European dragons, the ones who look sort of like dinosaurs would be more cruel and violent and side with the rat creatures. Odin and Thor are both serpents, Loki and Skadi are both saurian. 

Also, I've heard it mentioned that the creator of BONE chose to make The Great Red Dragon seem less like a saurian dragon because such dragons were known to generally lust after things they had no use for, gold and princesses and the like, I wanted this to play over with Loki and Skadi as both possess rather large secret hordes of jewels and gold, Skadi originally had a fatal attraction to Prince Birch which led to her desire to wipe out the humans, and Loki _is_ after Hiromi (though she's not technically a princess, Loki likes to challenge tradition anyway)


	11. Take me to your Larder

Disclaimer: I am not aware of any franchise called "Happy Hot Hog", but I do not own it, nor do I have any affiliation with such corporation, if such corporation exists.

**Part Eleven  
****Take me to your Larder . . .**

* * *

Thura watched Dingeye stalk closer and closer to the flatlander pushing the large cart with a picture of a pig with wings on the side of it, it had the words HAPPY HOT HOG though Thura couldn't read flatlander and therefore the words were meaningless. 

Dingeye said, "_This is it comrade, I smell edibility_!"

"_Edibility_?" Thura asked, wondering if that was really a word. Something inside the monster's head said that it was, but wondered why. Who thought it up? Were they _on_ something?

Dingeye said, "_On the count of three we go_! _Scare off the Flatlander, and consume the hot dog_!"

Thura nodded grimly, this seemed somehow . . . not wise.

"_One _. . ."

Thura gulped.

"_Two_ …"

Thura coiled up, preparing to pounce out at the flatlander!

"_FIVE_!" Dingeye shouted!

Thura blinked, and corrected "_Three, comrade_!"

"_Eh_? _THREE_!" Dingeye roared, and the pair of them leapt out of the bushes, teeth bared, arms stretched out to grab armfuls of dogs and run like the blazes!

"Hokey Tortilla! Who let the dogs out?" The man pushing the cart cried! Thura felt exhilaration, the attack had succeeded!

No . . . no wait, the hot dog flatlander had pushed his cart away from them just before they lept out, Thura and Dingeye landed flat on their faces, and the vendor called for help.

"_Oh no comrade_! _We do not want _more _flatlanders coming after us now_! _Oh what have you done_?" Thura demanded.

"_Silence_! _After him_! _Get those edibilities_!" Dingeye cried.

Well, though Thura was quite sure that _that _was not a word, now was not the time to argue, the hot dog human was now _throwing_ his wares at them, screaming for them to get away!

* * *

Angela knew when she heard the words, "Monsters! Monsters!" for once it couldn't possibly be one of the clan. 

She had a good guess who it was though, and she dove down towards the sound, "They're still in central park, that's good. It'll keep innocent people away from them." She said to Broadway.

"Yeah, I hope." The kindly green Gargoyle said, a hard, battle ready expression on his face.

The two descened steeply, and headed for the . . . uh . . . battle?

Sure enough there were the two rat creatures, the black one and the tanned one, hissing threateningly at a hotdog vender!

"Get back you, I'll deck you one good pal!" The vender said, waving a bottle of ketchup menacingly!

"_Take the edibles_!" The black rat roared, leaping out at the cart, but the vendor bopped him on the nose with the bottle of ketchup, which shattered!

The Rat Creature, whose eyes were already large and glowing red, was now seeing red as ketchup gushed all over its face!

It fell down to the ground and held its face, slightly bulging eyes growing even wider in terror, "_Comrade_! _It has killed me_! _I am wounded_! _I am bleeding_! _I am dying_! _I am—_" The monster paused as some of the ketchup got onto its tongue, it licked its lips and smacked them for a moment, tasting the hot dog topping, "_I am _delicious!" It finally decided.

"_Really_?" The tanned one asked, sounding surprised, which allowed the vendor to whack it over the head with a bottle of mustard.

"That's right you mangy freak mutts!" The vender cried in triumph, "Don't mess with me! I'm from the Bronx!"

Angela couldn't help it, these two terrible monsters were so . . . pathetic. So stupid! She looked at Broadway, whose grim facial expression had changed to one of mixed confusion and amusement, "We should get them away from that man . . . for his own safety." Angela said.

Broadway gave her a knowing wink, "Don't'cha mean _their_ safety?" He asked, indicating the rat creatures who were now, oddly enough, trying to retreat and gather up all the hot dogs that had been thrown at them at the same time.

"_I thought you were dying comrade_?" The tanned one asked as it shoved a hot dog into its mouth!

"_Shuddap_ _and gather the edibles_!" The black one snapped, licking some of the ketchup running down its forehead.

Angela and Broadway swooped down on the pair, Angela grabbed the black one, and Broadway grabbed the other, the vender screamed a few profanities, and something to the effect of, "They're coming out of the air now? Well bring it on beasties, I've still got the mayo and the relish, I'll take you all!"

Meanwhile Angela's passenger, the rat creature that she was trying to hold—it was twice the size of Bronx, or more, and just as difficult to carry—began to panic! "_Oh my_! _Comrade I'm flying_! _I'm uh . . . rather high off the ground, falling would probably hurt quite a bit . . . this is unpleasant. I suppose this is what it is like to be dead. No wonder so many try to avoid it._"

"There!" Angela said, nodding her head towards a nearby building, she couldn't point because of her heavy passenger, but Broadway seemed to catch on nonetheless.

They "gently" dropped their burdens on the roof, then circled around overhead, coming to land right in front of the pair.

"_Half-Dragons_!" The black one hissed, turning into a ball of fur with two red glowing eyes and sharp bared teeth!

"No! Wait!" Angela said, "I only want to talk!"

"Yeah," Broadway said calmly, "Talk . . . about what you did with our friends?"

"We wont hurt you." Angela said, and she smiled dumbly to show that she was no threat. She tried making a friendly gesture with her hands by raising them into the air to show she had no weapons, but the tanned Rat Creature just leapt back a few feet and screamed,

"_It's casting a spell comrade, be on your guard_! _Do not let it breathe fire on you_!"

"Please, I do not breathe fire." Angela said.

"_A likely story._" The black furred creature hissed.

"Hey, if we weren't friendly we could have let that hotdog vendor finish you off, he seemed to have things under control." Broadway pointed out.

The two rat creatures shifted uneasily, and looked at each other as if expecting the other to come up with a suitable argument. The black rat creature licked a bit of ketchup off of its hand.

"_This is true, comrade._" The tanned rat creature pointed out.

"_Wuh?_ _No, no it is not_! _I was merely preparing a trap for the flatlander, he was growing overconfident in his abilities, I was luring him into a false sense of security so that you could go around back in a flanking maneuver, and leap out at him from behind, pulling a one eighty midair to avoid his cat-shup fire, and then tackling him high as I come in tackling him low._"

The tanned rat creature stared at its companion for a moment, then said loudly, "_Forgive me comrade, but no you were _not!" It said angrily.

Angela and Broadway watched it with doubting expressions on their faces as well. "That does sound like a pretty bizarre plan." Broadway pointed out.

"_No . . . it . . . was . . . ingeneous_!" The black rat said slowly, he glared angrily at his companion, "_And you are _not _helping, comrade! Do you want them to eat us_?"

"_Uh . . . well . . . hmm . . . oh, no._ _No, not really, no."_ The tanned rat creature said, but it sounded as if it had considered it.

"We aren't going to eat you." Angela said in a soothing voice, "We want to . . . be your friends."

"Are you sure?" Broadway whispered, and Angela nodded in response.

"_Not eat us_?" The black one scoffed, "_Lies. How did that one get so big eating these hot dogs an cat-shup_? _You mean to eat us, and then use our skulls as pleasant decorations for your fiery inferno lairs_!"

"_Not my skull comrade, I need it_!" The tanned one cried, throwing its hands over its face in horror.

"_You heared my far less intelignt comrade,_" The black one said smugly, "_No skulls for you_!"

"Oh for crying out loud . . ." Angela whispered to herself.

"All right," Broadway said, standing up to his full height and spreading his wings menacingly, "Two things rat face, first of all you _never_ call Angela a liar," He said, punching his fist into his palm, "And second, I'm not fat, and I don't eat flea bitten, oversized vermin with big glowing red eyes!"

"What he means," Angela said, taking Broadway's arm, "is that we would never eat you and use your skulls to decorate anything . . . and we do not live in a fiery inferno lair."

"_Why should we trust you when the hooded ones say you're evil_?" The black one demanded.

"Well I don't think the hooded ones have ever met us, we'd remember." Angela said, "Calling someone do not know, someone you've never met evil is ignorant and wrong. We're not evil." Angela spread her arms again, showing she had no weapons, maybe this time it would work, "We just want to know what you've done with our friends."

"_Well . . . even if you are not evil, your friends are friends with the Atheians and their Half-Dragons, so we _know _they're evil_!" The tanned one said.

"_And you attacked us earliar, aiding that flatlander with the big sword_!" The black one accused.

Angela shook her head, "That was an accident, you surprised us. Now our friends are missing, we need to know what you've done with them."

"_What we've done with them_?" The tanned one scoffed, "_Comrade, have _we _done anything to anyone_?"

"_Hmm . . . well there was that dog that we tried to eat._" The black one pointed out.

"_Well yes. Fast thing, wasn't it_?" The tanned one said conversationally.

"_Quite. I don't think we'd have ever caught it._" The tanned on admitted.

"You ate a dog?" Broadway sounded disgusted, and Angela was.

"_What_? _No. Didn't you hear us say it was too fast_?" The tanned one shrugged.

"_So hungry . . . haven't eaten in hours._" The black one sighed.

"_Days comrade, days._" The tanned one corrected.

"_No, I found this dead thing under a bush a few hours before we went through the portal._" The black one shrugged.

"_And you didn't share it_?" The tanned one demanded.

"_There was only enough for one._" The black rat said crossly.

"_Liar._" The tanned one scoffed.

"Okay, look," Broadway said, "We've got lots of food, and we'll give you some if you—" but he couldn't finish, both rat creatures threw themselves at him, Angela got ready to fight, but it was unnecessary, the two rats were groveling before Broadway, who looked both surprised, and a little pleased.

"_Master_! _Master_! _We are your humble servants_!" The black one said.

"_Yes_! _We will go to the ends of the world by your very whim_!" The tanned one said.

"_Uh, if you feed us that is._" The black one noted.

"_Yes, if you feed us._" The tanned one agreed.

"_And as long as your whims aren't dangerous._" The black one added.

"_Forget danger, comrade, you ate a rotting dead thing a few hours ago, I am starving_!" The tanned one snapped.

Broadway grinned at Angela, "See? You've just got to speak their language."

Angela smiled, and shook her head. "And so cooperation is garnered through food." She said, taking note of it. "But ifKisaragi sees these two . . ." Angela trailed off, sure that continuing that sentence would cause all cooperation to disappear. Right now the rat creatures were quite politely groveling at Broadway's feet, but if they thought that Angela and Broadway couldn't guarantee their safety . . .

"We'll just make sure that Goliath sees them first, they can explain everything to him, and then he'll keep the human in line." Broadway said.

"Okay . . . but who'll keep Goliath in line?" Angela asked.

"He's not the type to shoot first and ask questions later." Broadway said, "He'll see these two aren't hurting us. They're so dumb and harmless, I don't see how they could have done anything to Brooklyn, Lexington and Hudson."

Angela nodded, "All right. We'll take them with us to castle wyvern . . . lets just hope it works out." She thought for a moment, and then said, "So what do we call you?"

"_Rat creatures._" The black one said, temporarily taking a break from groveling to answer her.

"She means your names." Broadway said with authority.

"_Thura_! _I am Thura, master_!" The tanned one said.

"_I am Dingeye, master half-dragon_!" The black one said.

"Well I am Angela," Angela said, pointing to herself, "This is Broadway."

"_Yes, shure, whatever!_ _Uh . . . now take us to your larder_!" Dingeye said.

"Don't you mean leader?" Broadway asked.

"_I meant what I said._" Dingeye said firmly.

"Well . . . let's get this over with." Broadway said. "The sooner they eat and meet Goliath the better."

Angela wasn't so sure about the second half of that proclamation, and she wasn't sure why. Nonetheless she didn't argue, she simply grabbed one of the rat creatures, and leapt off of the roof, headed for the castle.

"For something that's starving, you sure are heavy!" Broadway said.

"_Just don't drop me-justdontdropmeee_!" Dingeye squealed, holding his hands over his large red eyes.

* * *

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note: **The writer would like to point out that he is aware thatGoliath is not a violent homicidal maniac, nor would Angela assume that he is. Her worry is that he'll resort to force to extract information on the missing clan members, not that he'll just kill the rats on sight, givin his dark mood there might not be much left of Dingeye and Thura.I know enough about Goliath to know that if that were to happen I'd have thrown all "in character" claims I might make right out the window.

The writer also wishes to point out that if his take on the gargoyles is inaccurate, he'd like to know, be it through review or through e-mail. Feel free to leave fan mail as it inflates this one's ego to faster updating proportions (just kidding), but overall just keep reading. And tell your friends . . . so they'll tell their friends . . . so I can control the world through the subliminal messages in this story. (just kidding . . . or am I?)


	12. By The Sword

**Part Twelve  
****By the Sword.**

* * *

Lexington looked at Rose, "What's going on?" 

"The queen holds two councils, one with her nighttime warriors, and another with her daytime warriors."

"These must be the day warriors." Lexington stated. It seemed obvious since there wouldn't have been gargoyles in the last group if they were day warriors.

"Yes. You can tell because they're all humans." Rose said dismissively, she turned away from the scene and walked towards the edge of the roof and glided off. Lexington followed her, since he didn't know what else to do. She landed in the royal gardens, near a statue of a human woman with long hair, a sword in one hand, and a thick looking book held to her chest by the other.

Lexington read the inscription, "Queen Thorn Harvestar of Atheia, heroin of the second great war, Veni-Yan Kari. What's that mean?" He asked.

"A Veni-Yan Kari," a new voice said, "Is an "awakened one" most of the royal family are Veni-Yan Kari. They are stronger and wiser than most people."

"Sounds like something a royal family would _want_ their subjects to believe." Lexington said, not ready to buy that.

He turned to see the source of the voice, and saw a young gargoyle.

She was very young, just a child, with her were a half dozen other little gargoyles, and at least as many human children.

"It's true!" The little gargoyle cried, "Queen Violet is one, Headmaster is one, and Captain Hiromi is one too! They can all use the dreaming to cast spells!"

"It _is_ true that only they can use the magic." Goldenrose said, "I've tried."

Lexington thought about this, and then shrugged. "Who are all of you?" He asked. It had been a _very_ long time since he'd seen gargoyles younger than himself.

"I," The little female said proudly, "am Taneal! Sister of Dark Eyes!"

"And Alabaster." Goldenrose pointed out, "Do not be shy of your great and wonderful brother. Yes it may inspire jealousy among your peers, but you cannot help who you're related to."

Lexington raised an eyebrow at Rose, because she seemed to be blind to the fact that none of these kids had the same reaction to Alabaster's name that she did. There was a lot of eye rolling.

"Yes . . . sister of Dark Eyes, and Alabaster, and Danica."

"Danica is their sister?" Lexington asked in surprise.

"What? No. Danica is _my_ sister, not theirs."

Lexington raised an eyebrow. "How does that work?"

"We . . . uh _they_¸ the canyon clan, don't talk about it." Rose said simply, "Out of difference to my beloved Alabaster, I will not talk about it either."

"I will!" Noori cried, landing next to Goldenrose, she sneered and said, "Stone Skin is a strong and valiant warrior, but there is no denying that he has a major personality failing!"

"I warn you, Noori—" Goldenrose said, eyes glowing.

"Don't want our guest to know the truth about your future mate's father?" Noori grinned, "Or are you afraid it'll run in the family? Maybe Alabaster and I—"

"I do not want these _youngsters _to hear of, and perhaps _follow _Stone Skin's example!" Rose snapped.

"Oh!" Noori gasped, seeming to finally notice the number of children listening intently to her. "Uh . . . I am sorry. Ahem, rather, I mean . . . uh . . . I'm just going." She said.

"That would be best, I think." Goldenrose said sharply, and Noori left rather quickly.

"Is it that bad?" Lexington asked. If these weren't gargoyles talking he'd have a pretty good idea of what the situation was, but what this implied was so far from what the gargoyle way should be . . .

"I don't think so." Taneal said.

"Yes it _is_¸ and it is none of your business, I'm afraid." Rose said.

"Everyone knows." A little gargoyle said, "Everyone knows, and everyone saw it coming, King Daemon just didn't want to believe it!"

Goldenrose looked affronted, "Why you little—how dare you—that's not—I cannot believe—UGH! Little jungle boy, you uncivilized little thing, what Stone Skin did is wrong, and vile and—"

"Wrong and vile? Are you talking about me, or King Grund?" A deep voice chuckled. Goldenrose turned around seemed to shrink in size.

"M-Master Stone Skin!" Goldenrose cried, she bowed low, then took a step back. Lexington took a look at the infamous Stone Skin.

He was large, as big as Goliath, though Lexington would never believe him as tough! He had an enormous claymore strapped to his back, he wore a plated tunic like Alabaster's, though his upper torso was devoid of armor, his shoulders were fully protected, he had spiked bracers and anklets, and even his wings were armored with spikes! His hide was a dark gray color, and he had a thick mane—literally, it resembled a lion's—of black hair around his head, and face. Protruding from his mane was a pair of horns like a bull's, his tail, like Alabaster's ended in a heavy looking club.

The children scurried off, giggling, and Lexington asked, "You're Stone Skin?"

"Yes." The large gargoyle said, staring at Lexington. "Do I know you?"

"I-I'm Lexington!"

"Of what clan? Whose son are you?"

"Uh . . ."

"He's from the Manhattan clan!" Goldenrose said, standing a bit behind Lexington, who suddenly felt incredibly exposed.

"Ah . . . for a moment I thought you were . . . never mind. One of the warriors of Prince Brooklyn then? You seem young."

"I can handle myself!" Lexington snapped.

Stone Skin laughed, "I'll bet you can!" He slapped Lexington on the shoulder, and turned his attention to Rose, "As for you young princess—"

"Don't touch me!" Goldenrose warned.

Stone Skin grinned, "Do not believe everything you hear. A great deal of it is not true. Daemon and I were the closest of friends, betrayal of your clan brothers may be something the castle clan practices, and perhaps not. It is _never_ acceptable to the canyon clan."

"Oh I trust my sources!" Goldenrose scoffed, moving just a bit more behind Lexington.

"Yes? Well . . . it can be hard to know who you can trust, don't you agree, princess?" Stone Skin asked seriously.

"Not for me." Goldenrose scoffed.

"Ah. Well I shouldn't keep you then." Stone Skin said simply.

"That's a threat isn't it?" Goldenrose cried.

Lexington didn't see any threat in there, but then he didn't know Stone Skin very well.

"What's going on here?" Dark Eyes asked, landing near them, Lexington saw his hands fly to the hilts of his swords as he glared at his father.

"Ah, Dark Eyes." Stone Skin said warmly, "Good to see you, I must have missed you on your return."

"I was escorting our guests around the palace . . ." Dark Eyes said stiffly. "Forgive me, master Stone Skin, but haven't you somewhere else to be?"

Stone Skin frowned, "Master? My son, you can call me—"

"Haven't you somewhere else to be, _master_?" Dark Eyes repeated and Stone Skin gave a resigned shrug and left.

Lexington blinked, "What was all that about?"

"All what?" Dark Eyes asked innocently.

"Where is Alabaster?" Goldenrose asked. Dark Eyes shrugged, and Goldenrose shook her head and said, "That one . . . always running off."

"Yes well, why did you bring him here? I thought it would be best to show him the armory!"

"You canyon barbarians are always focused on weapons!" Goldenrose scoffed, "I thought it important that he . . . help thatch the roof."

Dark Eyes eyebrows rose, "You're putting him to work?"

"And pray what would giving him a sword and putting him on the front lines be doing?" Rose asked, batting her eyelashes, "You would be—"

"He uh . . . that is . . . I believe. . . ." Tigris said, Lexington had utterly forgotten that she was with him and Rose. She was standing between Dark Eyes and Rose as if she expected to have to keep the two from attacking each other.

But this was the first time Lexington had heard Tigris speak. Her voice was very soft. "I think . . . that he should decide."

Dark Eyes smiled, "Of course, how rude of me. I should not assume."

"It sounds reasonable." Rose said, giving Tigris an encouraging grin.

Lexington decided to speak very carefully, not wanting to annoy either Dark Eyes or Rose he said slowly, "Well . . . I've already seen the roof . . . and the garden. So I guess I could see the armory."

Dark Eyes nodded and said, "Good. I've already spoken to captain Kisaragi, and she has given us permission to take supplies, she will handle your leader, Brooklyn, and your elder is already armed."

"I think Tigris and I will go seek out Alabaster." Rose said, "I hope we'll have time to speak again, young master Lexington." She said, bowing her head slightly.

"Why not just come with us? You could talk on the way." Dark Eyes pointed out.

"I do so detest the armory." Rose sniffed, she turned to leave.

Tigris looked like she might object, but had returned to her silent state, and simply followed Rose.

"Why doesn't she talk very much?" Lexington asked.

"It'd be more polite to ask her than me, don't you think?" Dark Eyes said. Lexington wasn't sure if he was being serious. If Tigris never talked, how would asking her about it work out? Unless she decided to actually answer, that is.

"So about this armory," Lexington said, "how do you guys find the time to make swords when you're at war every day and night?"

"We don't have to. The Atheians had perfected ways of making swords that cause them to keep their strength for hundreds of years. Besides, now that the Atheians have awoken they can set to the forges and craft new swords, even armor. If we survive another year, those that do so will be far better equipped than we are now."

"That doesn't sound very reassuring." Lexington said.

"Well I'm not trying to be." Dark Eyes said simply, "There is nothing to reassure any of us. We will either die peacefully in our sleep, or be killed, perhaps eaten alive by the rat creatures."

"But . . . if you don't have any hope," Lexington began, but Dark Eyes cut him off,

"We do have hope. We have hope that we'll see another night. We have hope that the young will grow old, we hope that the rat creatures will _stop_!" Dark Eyes' eyes glowed blood red at those words, but immediately it subsided and he straightened himself, looking rather embarrassed, he said, "I-I'm . . . never mind." He said darkly, "You'll understand soon enough."

* * *

Loki smiled warmly at the little one called Lexington; he knew that _this one_ was an important player in the game. Such potential for power . . . if he survived. 

Dark Eyes, who Loki already considered to be his pawn, handed him a piece of paper, or rather handed her the order, for Loki was disguised as a ravishing female guard simply because he knew it would break hearts.

She looked over the paper and nodded, "Very good," Loki said, recognizing Hiromi's handwriting. "Well now, what did you want?"

"Some armor would be ideal." Dark Eyes said. Loki grinned, though Dark Eyes was Loki's creature he didn't know it, didn't know who Loki was. Though there were pleasures greater than disguising himself and making fools of everyone, the act of trickery in and of itself was a delectable treat.

"I see . . ." Loki said, and she quickly slammed a helmet onto Lexington's head. It resembled a bucket with an oddly oversized visor, and was ridiculously plumed with large purple feathers.

"I-I can't see!" Lexington protested.

"Dear me, dear me, let's try something else!" Loki gasped, doing his very best impression of those fussy young women who sold clothing in the twentieth century. She grabbed a long cloak of feathers and threw it over Lexington's shoulders, and shoved a shield that, had Dark Eyes really been paying attention, and had Lexington's eyes not been covered by a visor, they might have wondered how Loki, pretending to be a five foot tall young woman was capable of lifting a tower shield just as tall as she was with one hand and tossing it to Lexington!

"Whoa!" He cried, falling back, but Dark Eyes caught the shield before it could crush him, Loki tittered like an idiot and reached for a claymore about the size of Stone Skin's!

"No! N-no!" Dark Eyes cried, "Slow down!"

"What? Oh dear me, dear me, we really must equip him properly!" Loki cried.

"Uh, a dagger, just a dagger!" Dark Eyes decided.

"Yeah!" Lexington agreed.

Just what Loki had wanted to hear. She tapped her foot as if in deep thought as Dark Eyes helped Lexington take the helmet off of his head, Loki was certain he heard the canyon gargoyle growl some profanity, which only made the disguise more fun!

Loki clapped her hands, and reached behind her back, drawing out a long, cruelly curved dagger, its blade was blood red; its hilt was the darkest black. She handed it to Lexington.

"This dagger is the finest we posses," She said, ignoring Dark Eyes' scoff, "It will serve you well, and help you in your battles. Legend says it grants unnatural speed to its wielder."

"That blade is one of the humans' cursed swords!" Dark Eyes snapped, "Only a Veni-Yan Kari can unlock its power!"

Loki smirked, "If you believe in that nonsense."

"A cursed sword?" Lexington asked.

"Well," Loki said with a titter, "according to legend the dragons forged seven magical blades for Veni-Yan queens, the seven cursed blades. Three of which reside in the hands of our fine defenders, two more are kept safe here, and as for the other two, well who knows? There is the Shadow Edge, the sword that our Headmaster wields, it is said that looking into its blade can cause one to . . . see the terrors that go 'bump' in the night."

"Nonsense." Dark Eyes scoffed.

"Indeed." Loki grinned, but she could tell that Lexington didn't look so certain.

"Back in Manhattan," Lexington said, "When the headmaster planted his sword in the ground the rat creatures seemed afraid to go near it."

"That is because they feared the legend more than any magic in the blade." Dark Eyes explained, "They know the legends as well as we do."

"The second blade, the dagger you hold in your hand, the Blinding Strike. The third is the Stone Cutter, and it rests in the hands of our beloved Queen Thorn."

"Queen Thorn?" Lexington asked.

"A fool's legend." Dark Eyes scoffed, "Thorn was the queen of Atheia, long ago. She's dead now."

"Are you so sure?" Loki grinned, directing the words more towards Lexington than Dark Eyes.

Lexington looked very confused, and Loki said in a very grave and serious voice, "Though the two blades, Bloody Wroth and Dragon's Claw are missing, the dagger Oblivion Twilight, which is said to induce a terrible blood lust, and the sword Wraith Conjurer, which possesses the most fearsome power of all, are in the hands of two other defenders of Atheia, both of whom have sworn never to use them again." Loki smirked as Dark Eyes shifted uneasily, "Fascinating indeed!" She cried, returning to her energetic, tittering self, "But all nonsense of course!"

Dark Eyes scoffed, Lexington looked at the dagger and said, "Thanks . . . I guess. I'll take care of it."

"Oh no, young one," Loki said, "It shall take care of you."

Dark Eyes glared at Loki for a moment, and said, "The queen has permitted you to hand out the cursed blades?"

"Oh honestly," Loki tittered, and even he was starting to get annoyed by it, "you gargoyles _stole_ all but Shadow Edge and Stone Cutter when you found the vault, and missed those two only because Shadow Edge was in the hands of our Headmaster, and Stone Cutter was, and we can only assume still is, in the hands of Queen Thorn."

Dark Eyes waved Loki's comment away and said, "Very well, we've got what we came for." He turned to Lexington, "Did you want anything else? A bow perhaps?"

"What? Oh no." Lexington said, "This is enough . . ." He said, strapping the dagger's scabbard to his belt. Loki grinned wickedly.

'Very good, young one.' He thought. 'Take the blade, and let us see if you are what I believe you to be . . .'

* * *

**To Be Continued . . .  
****Author's Note:** The seven cursed blades are my own creations . . . so there. The Wraith Conjurer didn't exist in the original fan art/story, it's wielder used it's effect through their own prowess, however I felt it would be fun to add a bit more of a link between this world and what it should be, which is the Atheia that BONE is set in. Wraith Conjurer is therefore the Hooded One's scythe, it's called a sword in this story and the reason for that will be explained around the end of the act, it was originally, never the less, that cool scythe that Briar (the hooded one) used. Given that knowledge those who can guess what it does get a prize . . . or just style points, I don't actually have prizes for you. The Stone Cutter is of course Thorn's sword, I took the liberty of naming it, I don't recall it ever having a name, or magical powers, but now it does, and for good reason. Reasons I shan't explain at this time. 


	13. Conspiracy

**Chapter Thirteen  
Conspiracy**

* * *

Brooklyn emerged from the council chambers, or perhaps more pressingly, from the secret chamber that contained so many secrets of Atheia. 

"The important thing," The headmaster said, "is to remember that they are mortal. They live an incredibly long time, and they're very strong, but they are not ageless, and they are not invulnerable."

"Y'know, the way you keep reassuring me, I'm starting to think I should be even more worried than I already am." Brooklyn said dryly.

"Well be worried, but don't be terrified." Headmaster said.

"I'll keep that in mind." Brooklyn said.

The headmaster nodded, he was wearing his hood again so Brooklyn couldn't tell whether or not he was looking at him or towards him, and he guessed the headmaster could "see" well enough with the hood on, maybe even better than he could without the hood?

"I must prepare a strategy . . . it will be dawn soon, but if you like I can summon Braids to finish your tour of the castle."

Brooklyn wasn't so sure that was a good idea. Interesting as Braids seemed he wanted to meet other females, and that could be hard if he was already walking around with one.

"I would like to uh . . . strike out alone." Brooklyn said.

The headmaster nodded, "Very well. Enjoy the evening; I will contact you when I have figured out how we're to . . . accomplish this." He bowed slightly, then turned and left.

Brooklyn stood in the courtyard; he took a deep breath, moved his hand over his head to smooth back his hair, and set off towards the nearest largely female group of gargoyles he could find.

He stood not five feet away from them when it hit him!

'What do I _say_?' He wondered.

Several thoughts ran through his head, and many of them led to being laughed at.

"Well maybe I am having second thoughts!" A voice hissed nearby, Brooklyn's ears perked up.

"I've told you we cannot be seen together! Not in public, such matters are better left to the privacy of—"

"If we go through with this everyone could die!" The first voice snapped!

Brooklyn crept up close to an old looking shed, perhaps used to house garden tools. Clearly the source of the voices, but who was talking? One of them sounded female . . .

"What of Taneal, and the others?" The first voice asked. "She is too wise for a child, she will notice the change in you—"

"She will notice nothing. She grieves too heavily for the loss of her father! Our plans will go without hindrance and anyone who interferes will be dealt with."

"As we dealt with Daemon?" The first voice asked weakly.

"Exactly, his death was necessary for the success of our ambitions. None of this would be possible if he were still alive, it was for the best."

"But it felt . . . wrong."

Brooklyn's eyes narrowed, it didn't take a genius to figure out that these two, who ever they were, had taken a hand in the death of someone named Daemon! A murder perhaps?

"Daemon had to be silenced. He was a fool and as long as he trusted us he was harmless. But he got closer to the truth every day. Do you know what would have happened once he discovered us?"

"I know, but did we have to—"

There was a loud squeal, "Cousin!" The gargoyle Devi cried, skipping over to Brooklyn, he frowned as she approached and the voices fell completely silent.

"Are you lost, cousin?" Devi asked. Before he could answer, she continued, "Oh you're not the only one! I just cannot find Danica! That one, she just goes about doing as she pleases ever since her . . . accident."

"Accident?" Brooklyn raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I shouldn't speak of that." Devi smiled, "Danica would be mad."

Brooklyn frowned, had Danica been one of the voices he'd heard? "Tell me about Danica." He said.

"Oh her!" Devi said, taking Brooklyn's arm and leading him away from the small shed, "what would you like to know? I consider her my closest comrade; she is something of a role model to me really."

Brooklyn nodded, "Okay, so . . . Rose said she was a princess?"

"Well . . . I suppose. She is—was the daughter of King Daemon and Queen Isis, but both of her parents are dead."

"I thought the canyon queen was alive and well?" Brooklyn said. _Very _well in fact, she had been quite attractive . . . not that this was the time for such thoughts.

"Oh her! That is the new queen; she became Daemon's mate after Queen Isis died of illness."

"But . . . gargoyles—"

"Only choose one mate? Yes . . . but as unusual as it seemed at the time, she comforted him in his time of need, and they fell in love. They seemed so happy together no one complained . . . except Danica. Danica felt that her father had betrayed the promises made to her mother, though I do not see what good promises are to the dead."

Brooklyn shifted uneasily. Could Danica have killed, or ordered someone to kill her father? As princess she would have had authority over other members of the clan . . .

"She is a fine warrior," Devi pointed out, "She has skill with the sword that has been complemented by anyone who has ever instructed her."

"A truly inspiring warrior." Brooklyn said without enthusiasm. "I don't suppose you know why she's sneaking away . . . perhaps to see a male?" Brooklyn asked.

"Oh . . ." Devi smiled, "I see . . . well you are in luck, prince Brooklyn!"

"Luck?" Brooklyn asked.

"Oh you wear your desire plain on your sleeves," Devi smiled, squeezing Brooklyn's wrist, "though I do not know where she is going, I do know that my lady Danica is not being courted by any males. She is never gone _that_ long, if you understand."

Brooklyn shook his head, "Nuh-no I—I didn't mean, I'm not—"

"She once fancied Dark Eyes," Devi went on, "but ever since her accident she refuses to speak to him . . . civilly that is. You saw how they are together now . . ." Devi shrugged. "They avoid each other now, rare is the time they will be seen together, and never by choice."

'_I've told you we cannot be seen together' _the female had said . . . had Danica and Dark Eyes conspired against their old king? Perhaps in an attempt to take over? Was the current queen their next target?

"You should make a move cousin. She never told Dark Eyes how she felt, so he will not grudge you, and she would be thrilled to know that someone admires her!"

"What? But I—really?" Brooklyn asked in spite of himself. Danica had been rather attractive too . . . no! She might be a murderer, how could he be attracted to her?

Maybe there was something _wrong_ with him! Was he really _that_ lonely?

Well . . . yes . . . maybe.

"Oh yes! Ever since her accident she has been afraid that no male will ever be interested in her, it's part of her reason for being so . . .well, quick-tempered. If she knew that you were interested . . ." Devi began to giggle to herself!

Brooklyn frowned, well maybe if Danica was some evil murderer it wouldn't be such a bad idea to get close to her . . . but if she wasn't . . . she was beautiful anyway and it still wouldn't be such a bad idea to get close to her.

Brooklyn considered it, but before he could say anything Braids appeared and latched onto his arm.

"No fair! You were supposed to let _me_ give you the tour." Braids said with an odd pout that Brooklyn found attractive, though he wasn't really sure why.

Oh Lex would never shut up about this one, here he was with two pretty females, and one of them was trying to set him up with her other hot friend, it was dream come true but the timing was all wrong! Why did there have to be a war? Why did there have to be giant slobbering rat monsters?

"Come Brooklyn!" Braids said, gently tugging him away from Devi, "There is so much I've still to show you!"

"Uh . . . well—" Brooklyn began but Devi just waved after them,

"Enjoy yourself then! I shall speak to Danica for you, Prince Brooklyn!"

Brooklyn shook his head, was that a good idea? He hadn't decided whether or not he wanted that! But Devi skipped away too quickly!

Brooklyn resigned himself to allowing Braids to show him more of the castle . . . after all, she was attractive too—doh! He needed to stop thinking like that! There was a personality under those golden braids, and whether or not that personality was attractive should dictate his interest, not just her body . . .

Well . . . it was an attractive body—doh!

* * *

Loki leaned back against a tree, he was weary now, it was almost dawn and he almost expected Thor to pop up out of the bushes at any moment and demand he return to the lair. 

And he would . . . after he'd spoken to the captain.

She walked through the garden towards the place she usually chose for her meditation, or prayer, or . . . well frankly Loki wasn't sure what she did there because she tended to hear anyone approaching somehow and draw her blade almost immediately.

He watched her walk past, and whistled sharply to catch her attention.

As the turned, the expression on her face was a weary one, but it brightened slightly upon seeing him. He smiled and said, "What's new pussycat?" Oh by the queen's fire was that so _not_ cool! Maybe it had been a hundred years ago . . . well technically the line didn't see much use in Athea a hundred years ago . . . and despite being a world removed unto itself it could be argued that Athea was as technologically advanced as humanity had been a thousand years ago, so clearly Loki had used the phrase nine hundred years before it became hip, he was therefore the trend setter.

But no time to think about things like that now.

"Why would you ask me that?" Hiromi blinked.

Loki shook his head, "Never mind. Uh, hey, how's the uh . . . books?"

"Uh . . . okay." Hiromi shifted uncomfortably.

Loki nodded, his stomach felt funny around this human, he had to take control here! He needed to say what he wanted to say and leave before she made him feel any funnier! "Great. Now look, I just wanted to say your old man was a worthy rival. That's why I got rid of him."

Hiromi's ye twitched, "I see. I suppose those words would comfort him."

Loki scoffed. "Yeah right. Look, all I want to know is: can you fill his shoes? Can you handle the job?"

"Why do you care?" Hiromi scowled.

"Hey!" Loki practically yelped, realizing she was annoyed for some reason, queen's fire, who in his right mind could understand women? Especially when they belonged to another species! "Do not assume that I don't care . . . about the game." He added quickly, so she wouldn't realize—no wait he _wanted _her to realize he was interested! Curses he was messing this up again!

Okay, be calm, as long as he knew he was messing up he couldn't possibly continue . . .

"Athea will fall sooner or later. I want to know if you're up to the task of preventing that fall a bit longer." Loki grinned, "I gave you gifts girl, why do you never use them?"

Hiromi turned away, "Because they are evil things, you want me to be more like you, an evil vindictive monster?"

"Not at all. But those are very attractive qualities," Loki smirked, "besides what is evil to you is not evil to everyone. What is good and righteousness to me may well be evil to you. I for one believe that for the strong to protect the weak is wrong. If you protect them they rely on you, how can they become strong? You do more damage than those who wish to destroy them. But do you really think me evil? After I saved you, after I saved the boy? The others, they would have slain you both."

"Evil is not always predictable." Hiromi said coldly, "And how do I know it was you who saved anyone? Perhaps you called for my blood and it was the other who demanded I be spared."

Loki stared into her eyes, "Do you truly believe I would do that?"

She averted her gaze, "No . . . but I do not understand you."

"Nobody does. I like it that way." Loki smirked, "But as for gifts . . . well I have one in mind now, one that will please you and all of Athea . . . but it is no ordinary gift. If I give this gift to you, I will need something in return."

"Then how can it be called a gift?" Hiromi demanded.

"Call it what you will, but in return for a minor price I offer a means to save all Athea."

"A means?" Hiromi scoffed.

"A means. As I've said, helping the weak prevail over the strong is evil in my sight. But to give someone as strong as yourself a new weapon with which to achieve victory . . ."

Hiromi shifted uneasily, "What . . . is the price?"

Loki grinned wickedly, "Nothing serious. There is just the small matter of those Gargoyles who came through the portal . . ."

* * *

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note:** Now juggling three stories (and some you don't even know about) updates might slow down. As you know ACT 1 is finished anyway, and progress has been made on ACT 2, but actually getting online to post them will be the problem as the clock ticks away the time in my days, I'll try to keep posting once or twice a week, but if I dont it isn't because the story "died" I'm just busy.


	14. Warriors

**Chapter Fourteen  
****Warriors . . .**

* * *

Hudson stretched his arms as he surveyed castle Thorn, standing high atop a battlement. 

"It'll soon be dawn. Should we not take a stance on the wall?" He asked Goron.

The elderly gargoyle shook his head, "Oh no. You see when _they_ attack, they know to try to destroy our statues. They will sometimes give up an attempt to scale the wall if it means they can use their grappling hooks on one of our statues. Why, King Grund once woke up with ropes lassoed around his arms and wings, luckily Stone Skin cut them before he could be pulled over the wall. Bt order of the queen we now take our positions around the inner palace."

Hudson frowned, "A Gargoyle shouldn't be afraid of what might happen during the day, he should stand proud and look out, ready to face any threat that may come."

Goron shrugged, "I have no doubt that you have fought many wars cousin, but from what you've told me, your enemies often did not know you were living beings, and the surprise of turning to stone before their eyes may have been a factor in your victory."

"A factor?" Hudson chuckled, "Sometimes Goliath _counted _on it."

Goron nodded. "Yes. You see at first our stone hibernation allowed us not only to surprise the rat creatures but also allowed us to remain safe during the day, how easily we could disguise ourselves as boulders, or old statues. However as time wore on they figured out what we were and knew that the destruction of our statues would result in our deaths. They now now know that we cannot wake and defend ourselves in the day. That is when they like to strike at us."

Hudson shook his head, "Aye . . . tis a sad thing. But I suppose standing guard over the queen is not so different than standing on the walls . . ."

Goron nodded, and looked off into the horizon.

"What are ye looking for?" Hudson asked.

"They have rarely failed to attack us. I am surprised. I wonder how long this peace will last."

Hudson smiled and put his hand on his new friend's shoulder, "Don't ye worry about that. Rest well and when the evening comes see what awaits you."

"Indeed." Goron said softly, glancing out at the horizon one last time. "I do sometimes wonder if they grow as tired as we do. Of the killing I mean. Of the losses. They should know better than we how it feels to lose a loved one, if they are capable of loving each other." Goron shook his simian head, "Alas though . . . the pain of loss only leads them to anger and hatred. I fear that they may be emotionless monsters, I fear there will never be a peaceful resolution to this war."

"Fear'll lead ye to anger too." Hudson pointed out, borrowing the words from some complicated show he'd seen on television long ago.

"That it does." Goron said darkly.

* * *

Loki, appearing as a hooded one again stood before the rat creature king. He was a freak of nature, a grosesque deformity and for that the rats had made him king. 

He was the opposite of a rat creature as far as proportions went, Rather than small legs and enormous arms he had absolutely enormous legs and tiny arms, he had no neck, his head and his torso just seemed to be one part of his body, and his mouth was nearly a third of that.

His eyes and ears, while bigger than those of a regular Rat Creature still seemed too small for the great king, actually Loki felt he looked sort of like a furry T-Rex without any tail or neck.

He was covered in blood and matted fur, for he had only barely escaped the last battle alive. He was missing half of an ear, and had a huge wound on his right leg which his people had dressed with some bizarre mixture of mud and leaves and some strange wrap.

"_You want me to send two thousand warriors to the castle at dawn_?" The king asked, growling.

"The half-dragons are stone during the daylight, it is the best course."

"_Of course it is_." The king growled, "_But why so suddenly_? _I have suffered grievous wounds, I cannot lead the—_"

"You needn't."

"_My general_—"

"Nor he.' Loki shook his head, "I understand that there are elements in your army who feel the war has run its course, that with the humans and half-dragons confined to the castle, peace ought to begin to spread?"

"_How did you_—"

"Know?" Loki laughed darkly, "I make it my business to know everything, and one needs only to listen to the hum of your camp. Round up as many of these as you can, send them to attack the castle."

"_Why_? _Without me there to lead them they may refuse to attack, or even defect, some of them want to_ share _the land with the flat landers_!"

"I know. But what will you do with them if they continue to preach peace?"

"_Kill them of course_." The king said.

"Exactly. They become martyrs for their cause and it gains strength. Instead, let them face the flat landers in battle, let them die that way, stir the survivors up to hatred, let it spread to their friends and family, let them become the martyrs for _your_ cause and those that survive will see the error of their ways, will return to the true and righteous path of conquest."

"_But who will ensure that they go through with it_?" The king groaned as servant attended his wounded leg. Loki wondered if he could convince the king to let him amputate it if for no other reason than to see what the rats would concoct to help their leader get around. A peg legged king would be quite the sight to see.

"I will lead the army," He said, looking away from the wound, "Let them _dare_ defy me."

The king leaned back against the wall of his cave, "_Yes . . . and when you fail they will cry for me to lead again . . _."

_As if you've ever succeeded. _Loki thought, but outwardly he smiled and nodded, "Indeed, strengthening your rule over your people."

"_I like it_."

"I knew you would, my king." Loki said, bowing.

The entire attack was designed by Loki to wound but not destroy Atheia. It was designed to press Hiromi hard enough that she might reconsider his offer, which she had refused. If it were necessary he would simply sack the castle and take what he wanted, then how much more interesting the game would be when the Atheians became a guerilla resistance instead of a crumbling kingdom?

* * *

Hudson took a perch near the top of the castle along with Goron. 

The lads had caught up to him, Brooklyn said quietly to Hudson, as he pried himself free of the young female called Braids, "We've got to talk tomorrow night. There's something going on around here."

Hudson nodded. He spotted the long dagger that Lexington carried, and said "So they've armed ye, have they?"

"Well I hope I won't need it." He said, nodding.

Hudson nodded back, "This is a war, ye may be needing it more than ye like."

"We've fought in battles like these before." Brooklyn said, "And we never needed swords."

Braids said, "The Atheians cannot fight the rats without them. The swords are more than just weapons to the Atheians, they're an extension of the spirit. That we wield them shows their respect for us, besides the blades work better than claws."

"Claws that can cut through stone should have no problem cutting through a rat's hide." Brooklyn said.

"Yes . . . but when the rat's arms are half again the length of your ownyou have the disadvantage and the sword rather helps. If you're fast enough of course, you don't need them." Braids shrugged.

Suddeny there was a loud noise, like a painfully loud moan.

"Blast!" Braids scowled.

"What is it lass?" Hudson asked.

"The warning horns. They're here." Goron said darkly. "Just as I knew they would be."

Hudson looked out at the oncoming horde. They were nothing but a sea of dark brown, he managed to say, before the sunlight struck him, "Not even the Viking hordes were so—"

* * *

Horns. Horns blaring like the deep mournful cry of a dragon, Thor stood atop the wall of Atheia as he looked out at the horde of rat creatures. His count, done as quickly as only a dragon could, revealed slightly more than two thousand warriors. Enough to sweep over the castle Thorn, but not even a tenth of the Rat Creature's true strength. 

A shame. Thor did not want to see the humans destroyed, it hurt him to even think of it. But father Odin had forbidden him from interfering.

"I can do nothing to help them." He said to himself, turning away from the walls. That act alone disgusted him, his ability to continue walking away amazed him.

Every step was difficult, but he had sworn an oath . . .

Refusing to so much as look over his shoulder, Thor told himself darkly that if the humans were annihilated, Atheia would be a much darker place. How could father Odin want that? Had the oath he'd sworn been one worthy of upholding?

* * *

"They're coming!" A soldier shouted. 

Hiromi closed her eyes, she was the _Taisho_, the general now. Her father was gone, perhaps forever. She turned to her warriors, and shouted with authority and volume she had never before dared to use, "Archers! Take your positions! Pikemen, to the walls!" She drew her katana and stared out at the vast enemy army, "I will not let you destroy this place." She said, the smaller sword at her hip seemed to throb with excitement.

_No._ She told herself firmly. She would not draw that blade.

She looked to her soldiers, "Archers, aim high! Do not give them a ladder of corpses, let them drag their dead to the front!" Hiromi glared at the rats, the outer walls and the main city had fallen because the bowmen had fired at the rats at the base of the walls, giving them a large mound of dead which they had climbed to the tops of the walls, and to near victory.

Hiromi would not let them do it again.

The rats began to raise up wodden ladders, Hiromi's response was the shout, "Pikemen! Let them near the top but do not let them reach it!"

She stood atop the wall, and glared down the ladder before her at the dozen or so rat creatures scrambling up. Some of them were close enough to the ground to survive, the greater part would at least be injured, and some might not survive the fall.

Who were these monsters that came to battle?_ His_ words stuck in her mind, what was good to her was evil to him, were these creatures truly evil monsters, or were they simply trying to defend what they believed in?

It didn't matter. If they weren't willing to die for their beliefs, they should never have taken up arms against the Atheians, they were attacking, this was self defense. Still how many of them had not wished to come? How many of them, like her would rather live a peaceful life away from war and slaughter? She could not help but whisper to those individuals though they could not hear her, "I am sorry," before kicking the ladder down. She raised her katana into the air and shouted to the soldiers, to _her_ soldiers, "Fire!"

With so many targets packed so closely together, few of the arrows missed.

* * *

**To Be Continued . . .  
****Author's Note: **The battle of castle Thorn, the climax of ACT I begins, will the Atheians and their Garoyle allies survive? Will Thor remain stubbornly neutral? And what will happen when Skadi gets wind of Loki's attack, and shows up with reinforcements? The chapters will be longer and more intense as the battle heats up! I even had to cut one in half! 

This was planned originally as a minor skirmish, however as passion took control it became an epic battle, and while it does not overshadow the climax of ACT II (now also complete) I feel it, and the various events that transpire during it, quite fitting for the ending of first act.

If this were a television series and this were its season finale, I'd be very pleased with it, I hope you readers will be too. (Yes I know it never will be a tv series, I'm not that full of myself, that's just an example)

Goliath and co. are not forgotten, though I admit now their chapters got less love than the battle itself. I was distracted. That happens some times.


	15. Strict Rules

**Chapter Fifteen  
****Strict Rules**

* * *

Goliath slammed his fist down in front of Owen/Puck. "Atheia!" 

The stone faced human gave him a bored, lazy look. "Do you mean Athens? If so, then yes, Mr. Xanatos has a corporate branch in that city. If you would like to vacation there—"

"Don't play games with us. You know exactly what we're talking about, Puck." Elisa said, her hands on her hips.

Owen smiled faintly, "I haven't the foggiest."

"Three of my clan were attacked by rat monsters! They may have been taken to Atheia, and I must follow." Goliath said sternly.

Owen nodded slowly, "I can understand your position. I wish I could help you."

"Send. Me. There." Goliath said, eyes glowing dangerously as he grabbed Owen by the collar.

"How would I accomplish that?" Owen asked calmly.

"Find a way. Hudson, Brooklyn and Lexington are all missing, if they're in Atheia we have to bring them back." Elisa said.

Owen shook his head, "I am afraid Puck can only use his powers when he is training or protecting young Alexander." He shot a sly look behind Goliath, "_You_ understand, don't you?"

"Of course." Angela said, sounding surprised.

"Angela? Broadway? What are you doing here? Did you find them?" Goliath demanded.

"N-no. No we didn't." Angela said. "We came back to see how you were doing."

Broadway looked at her in surprise, but Goliath didn't understand why. He released Owen, "Is there nothing you can do?"

"There is very much that I can do. When I am _protecting_ or _teaching_ Alexander." Owen said, straightening his glasses. "I really can't make things any plainer."

"Could you not teach him to open a portal?" Goliath asked, doubting that the mischievous child of Oberon was honestly doing everything in his power to help.

"That could prove quite disastrous. It would be best if Alexander learned to use portals once he's become a bit more mature, otherwise who knows where he could end up?"

Goliath growled. He turned to Angela and Broadway, "You two take some rest. _I _will find these rat creatures, and I will get some answers!"

He stormed out of the office, and down the hallway, he ran to the castle's walls and hurtled himself off, spreading his wings and gliding away! He would find them, he would find a way to rescue Hudson and the others!

He had to have faith in their abilities, they had survived terrible situations, but it had been a long time since they had seen a full scale war, and Goliath had never been so concerned for them!

* * *

"Angela, why didn't you tell him?" Broadway asked as they and Elisa left Owen's office. 

"Tell him? Tell him what?" Elisa asked. She fixed Angela with a searching look, "Did you find them?"

"Yes." Angela said.

"Then why didn't you tell him?" Elisa and Broadway said together.

Angela frowned at them, "Beacause I think I've just figured out how to get to Atheia."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Elisa asked, "You didn't cut some deal with them did you? You heard Kisaragi, they hate gargoyles, you can't trust them!"

"I'll explain everything, but you cannot tell Goliath, or the samurai." Angela said with confidence.

* * *

"_This is a rather lucky break for us, wouldn't you agree comrade_?" Dingeye asked in between mouthfuls of a roast beef he'd gotten hold of. 

"_Oh yes. Try the quiche, it is delectable_!" Thura said.

"_Hmm . . . just like grandpa used to make._" Dingeye nodded. "_You know, _these _half-dragons aren't so bad._"

"_I think so too._" Thura nodded.

"_And they know how to live._" Dingeye continued, "_I don't ever want to go back to the army_!"

"_Neither do I._" Thura agreed. There was a silence for a moment, then Thura looked fearful, "_Oh my . . . what if the hooded ones send someone to bring us back_?"

"_What_? _What do you mean_?" Dingeye asked.

"_A hooded one opened that portal, what if he opens it again and sends someone through to get us_? _Someone to punish us for our disobedience_?"

Dingeye frowned. "_The hooded one does not know we are being disobedient. If more of our comrades come through we will have to rejoin them or face the hooded one's wrath._"

"_But comrade . . . I do not _want _to rejoin them if it means fighting these half-dragons._"

"_They won't be so tough if we're with an army of our comrades._" Dingeye said.

"_That is not what I meant._" Thura said.

"_I know, comrade. Shut up and eat your quiche._" Dingeye said darkly.

The truth was he himself had given it some thought, he did not want to rejoin the ranks either. He did not want to fight alongside the hooded ones ever again. He doubted that the Atheian half-dragons were truly as evil as the hooded ones said. Maybe they were, but these ones weren't, and Dingeye doubted they would be concerned for their comrades if _they_ were.

He finished off the roast beef when the female half-dragon entered. She smiled a friendly smile at them, and said, "How's the food?"

"_Terrible. You are lucky we are here to eat it for you, it is no good. Too terrible for your sensitive pallets."_ Dingeye said, grabbing a ham.

There was a flat lander with them now, Dingeye watched her closely, who knew where they kept their swords sometimes?

"So these are the rat creatures?" The flat lander asked.

"These are them." The male half-dragon said. "They're really kind of harmless."

Dingeye wondered if the half-dragon would think that if he ever saw what the hordes had done to his comrades in Atheia. Dingeye was a young warrior, and he'd never fought in a real battle before, the journey through the portal would have been his and Thura's first battle, but if the stories from their older comrades were true the flat landers and half-dragons were on their last leg, the only thing that saved them from the last attack was what General Koodge called "Cornered Dog Mentality", which meant that they had put up more of a fight than the king had expected, they had fought without concern for their safety because they knew they would all die anyway which had cought Kingbok off guard resulting in a terrible injury which shocked the army into retreat.

The next attack, or attacks would be carried out with this in mind, the rat creature army would not be defeated again.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" The flat lander asked the female half-dragon.

"I hope so." The female said.

"Just make sure Matt keeps that samurai away, or he might ruin everything." The large male said.

"_What are you talking about_?" Dingeye asked.

The female smiled and said, "Well . . . I think I've found a way to save our friends. We'll need your help and it might be dangerous, but we'll do everything we can to protect you as long as you cooperate."

Dingeye frowned, and looked at Thura, who shrugged. "_Okay. You need strong warriors like us, that much is clear. We will help you._"

The female smiled, "Thank you. You don't know what this means to us."

"Okay. We'll wait until Goliath gets back, I'll get Bronx and tell Matt about your plan. I hope it works, Angela."

The half-dragon female nodded slowly, "I hope it does too."

"_Yes . . . well tell me about this plan of yours._" Dingeye said.

"_It does not involve hot dogs, does it_?" Thura asked.

Angela smiled, "No, you won't have to worry about hot dogs."

"Speaking of which," The male said, grabbing one of Dingeye's beloved hams, "I'm hungry!"

"_That was mine_!" Dingeye whined.

"Didn't see your name on it." The half-dragon said, chewing contently having shoved nearly the entire ham in his mouth.

"_Well you would have if you'd looked_!" Dingeye lied.

* * *

As dawn approached Goliath growled and looked for a place to rest for the day. 

He'd found nothing as he soared over the city of Manhattan. Where were they? Why couldn't he find them? How would he save his clan?

How would he save their distant brothers?

What would it be like to see castle wyvern once again full of gargoyles? Goliath hadn't dared to even fantasize about such a thing! He knew Broadway and Angela would have children and that there would be more gargoyles in the world and in the castle, but if they could evacuate these Atheian clans the castle would be _alive_ again.

And yet what would it matter if the castle were alive, if Goliath's long time friends, his _family_ were not.

If anything happened to the others, he would have his revenge, even if it _did _mean he had to find and contact Demona.

But that would be his last resort, he would probably have an easier time convincing Oberon himself to help him than he would have convincing Demona.

But whatever happened, Goliath would find his way to Atheia, he would rescue his lost friends, he would bring them home and if he could, he would rescue their brothers too.

Goliath had seen enough gargoyles slain.

* * *

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note:** Can you guess what Angela has in mind? I bet you can. Whether or not it works, you'll see the result before the end of Act One.

Now as for this Season Finale business, I was speaking metaphorically about the first act ending with a bang (so does the second) I didn't mean an end to the story, but an end to the first season. Both seasons end with a major battle, though Act 2's finale makes Act 1 look like a snow ball fight.

As for battle scene writing, well you're in luck, when I'm not holding myself back I can be rather good at it. Though sadly when I don't try to cut myself down on time or space I can lose myself in a battle and just keep going and going. Having spent my youth reading the likes of The Dark Elf Trilogy (and its sequels) the Battletech Universe, shucks even AnimorphsI'm quite certain what does and does not work for me when reading or writing battles.

However the final battle of act one is just a skirmish until the gargoyles get involved, and the whole thing is nothing but a shouting match compared to the war at the end of act two, and if my work on Act 3 continues the way it should the final battle there will be simply massive.

What I am most pleased with however is not the violence, but how beautiful the chapter is, Queen Violet "blooms" in the next two chapters, you'll get to see a lot of what she's made of, the kind of queen she is, and how she views the war. I felt it was important to show what kind of person Violet was, since she, despite being almost completely ignored so far, is an important character. That's just one of the better sections, I wont ruin anything more.


	16. The Days are Long

**Chapter Sixteen  
****The Days are Long**

* * *

**11 Hours to Sunset . . .**

Loki, covered by his hooded cloak stood atop a high rock, a scythe in hand for it "cut" a rather impressive image. It reminded the rats of the first Hooded One, the fallen Atheian princess who had joined with the House of Mists.

It was, after all, her disciples whom Loki and Skadi pretended to be, why should he not attempt to resemble her?

He sneered as the small Atheian force fought from the walls. None had yet died, but that would soon change. He saw the Headmaster atop the walls, and waved nonchalantly to him, though he wasn't sure if the human could see him from such a distance.

"Enjoying yourself, book worm?" The dragon in disguise asked. "I know I am." Loki said darkly.

* * *

Leif scowled as he looked out at the massive horde, no bigger really than those that had attack before, but none the less overpowering. Arrow after arrow he fired, and soon he would run out. The day dragged on like an eternal nightmare, and Leif had not slept once in . . . oh how long had it been? Two days? Three? 

His hood pulled back, he scanned the enemy's ranks with skilled eyes. He fired once, twice, a third and fourth time, and each arrow found its mark.

But there were just too many rats.

He scanned still, and found a hooded figure flanked by two rats standing atop a stone.

_For Birch._ The headmaster thought darkly as he took up a bow and fitted an arrow. The hooded one sent him a cocky wave, he took careful aim, and fired.

The arrow sped towards the dragon—if that was what it was—and flew true.

* * *

Loki saw the arrow and had nothing more than an instant to react. 

Enough time to duck slightly, and gently sway to the right side, the arrow whizzed by him, cutting into his cheek, had he not dodged it would have found his neck.

Instead it cut through his hood and cloak and buried itself in one of his body guards.

He glared at the headmaster. So he wanted to provoke a dragon? So be it. "Lucky shot, book worm. Now it's _my_ turn."

Loki held his scythe with one hand, and began to move the other about in what the rat creatures would see as a terribly arcane method, he held two fingers up to his brow, as dream masters did when manifesting a spell, and then opened his mouth and spat a ball of flame towards the wall!

Deadlier than any legion of catapults was a dragon's fiery bombardment, but Loki did not want to see the castle fall too soon. A single ball of flame flew out towards the walls.

It struck, and the wall over the gates shuddered!

Loki snickered as Atheian soldiers shouted in alarm from above the gates. He had missed the head master just as the head master had missed him, but he hoped he'd made his point. Atheia could fall this instant if Loki chose to let it.

But then Loki spotted something that took the smile from his face.

Hiromi!

* * *

Hiromi stood atop the wall, "Keep firing!" She screamed over the roar of battle, she saw a rat creature ladder slam into the wall near her and she headed for it! 

Suddenly she spotted a bright light from the corner of her eye, before she could turn to see what it was the entire wall shook! Hiromi, who had leapt upon the wall to better kick the ladder away stumbled and fell!

She fell, and in her mind she thought, _can it truly end like this?_

But, with a jerk that nearly tore her arm out of socket the young woman stopped! She looked up and saw Leif holding onto her hand, and Fydor holding onto Leif.

She did her best to climb up the wall as her rescuers pulled!

Gasping for air and panting the young samurai shook her head in disbelief, "What was that?"

"All my fault." Leif said darkly.

"It was a ball of fire!" Fydor said, "They must have built catapults in the ruins of the old city where we cannot see them!"

Hiromi looked at Leif, his expression told her clearly that Fydor was very wrong.

* * *

Loki sighed with relief as Hiromi was pulled up over the wall. He shook his head, he hadn't even meant to kill anyone, just scare them. He'd gotten carried away in the fun, he supposed. 

"_Hooded One . . . what shall we do_? _The ladders are as ineffective as ever_!" A Rat Creature said.

"Arent they though?" Loki grinned. "But look at how the injured pile up around them."

"_Shall we move them_?" The rat creature asked.

"Move them?" Loki laughed, "They're the foundation. Let a few more waves break against the walls . . . and you will have a ladder the Atheians cannot so easily push away from their walls."

The rat creature sent a concerned look in the direction of its dead and dying comrades, and then comprehension came across his face, followed by a sinister smile. "_As you command, Hooded One._" The rat said.

* * *

**5 Hours to Sunset . . .**

It was just past noon now, soon the sun would set. Loki smiled as his first wave of warriors, nearly depleted and quite weary withdrew. Without so much as a heartbeat in between waves however, the second, well rested wave threw itself at the walls!

He had so many that while the humans put all their might into defending their castle, Loki could spare some warriors to rest while the others charged.

According to his strategy they would withdraw as soon as night fell, let Hiromi see how close she had come to defeat, and then reconsider his offer.

But then he saw the dark mass in the tree line behind him, he raised his eyebrows in surprise, something he did very rarely as rat creatures began to emerge from the trees.

"What is this?" Loki demanded.

He knew as soon as Skadi and Kingbok emerged.

"There has been a change in plans, my apprentice. The war ends today."

Loki growled, "Do not interfere with my strategy." He said calmly in the language of the dragons.

A third hooded figure emerged, he laughed darkly, and responded in the same language, "Do you think me stupid? I sensed a significant change in the dreaming. Did you really think you could hide it from me? She is turning, awakening."

Loki laughed too, but his was a far less evil, more pleasant laugh, "Do you not trust me?"

"Now _that_ would truly be stupid." The third hooded one said.

Loki sighed. How he _hated _Baldur.

He turned back to the castle, just a few hours. He now had to hope that the humans could hold out until the evening. Baldur knew about _her_, but he did not know about the Manhattan clan.

"How many warriors have you brought?" Loki asked.

"Each of we three leads a force equal in size to your own." Skadi said with a sly smile. "The humans are doomed."

So a grand total of eight thousand. Loki smiled weakly, and hoped for a miracle, for even with the Manhattan clan's surprise addition the game looked dangerously close to its end, and he could not openly oppose Baldur, especially not with Skadi, Kingbok and at least six thousand rat creatures backing him up.

But Loki, ever resourceful was far from beaten.

* * *

"Bloody stars, they've got reinforcements!" Fydor shouted, and a general murmur flowed through the troops. 

"It doesn't matter!" Hiromi shouted, "Keep firing! Show them no mercy, if this wall falls they'll not show your wives and children any either!"

Leif shook his head. "The women and children!"

"Yes, they'll all die if we fail!" Hiromi nodded.

"No! The women and children!" Leif protested.

"Blast it all, Headmaster, we _know_!" Fydor shouted.

Leif shook his head violently, "_Bring _them to the walls! Summon my cousin and tell her I'm _ordering_ her to arm the civilians and send them to the walls!"

Hiromi looked terrified, "Have you gone mad?"

Leif shook his head and smiled grimly, "We need more men up here, but we don't have them. There's so many enemies now, all one has to do is fire an arrow to hit a target, bring the women up to the walls, give them arrows and slings!" He turned to the soldiers, "We _all _fight, or we _all_ die!"

He looked to the sky, as the sun slowly began its descent. It seemed unreal, they had been fighting for hours but it felt like years. His muscles ached and his head throbbed from lack of sleep, having failed to take any for the past two nights and now nearly three days!

But this was not madness, though it _was_ far from brilliance.

It was fact, one that should have occurred to them all sooner. The civilians had never taken oaths to defend Atheia, had never been given swords and likely never would become Veni-Yan warriors, but they should be allowed to defend themselves.

Leif looked out at the swarm of rat creatures, how else could they survive this, even with the aid of the gargoyles?

* * *

Thor closed his eyes as the screams of the dying reached his ears. They were predominantly rat creature screams, but there were humans here and there. 

With so few humans left, they could not afford the losses as easily as the rat creatures. Even if one died for every ten rat creatures the battle would be lost, and even if it was not the rat creatures would simply come again . . . and again.

The dragon growled a low growl, a sound that seemed truly alien coming from his human throat. "You _are_ wrong father, and I can no longer stand by!"

Thor decided he would take a page from his brother's book. Loki did not break rules, he bent them. Thor could not burn the entire rat creature army himself, but he could give the Atheians _something_ to aid in victory. "I cannot win this battle for them. But _you_ can." He said, looking at the statue of Atheia's former queen.

Thorn Harvestar.

* * *

**4 Hours to Sunset . . .**

"Where are our reinforcements?" Leif demanded, of Fydor as the brawny warrior returned to the wall.

The dead rats had begun to add up without their notice, Hiromi had given orders to purposely avoid leaving the rats a corpse mound, but there were simply hurling their bodies to the foot of the wall. Leif wondered if the rats would be able to dispose of all the bodies this time.

He wondered if they'd even try.

"Queen Violet says you've gone mad!" Fydor said, "She ordered me to subdue you!"

Leif scowled, "And what will you do?"

"If I were going to subdue you, would I tell you first?" Fydor demanded.

Leif smiled faintly. "Defend the walls. I must go talk some sense to my cousin! Tell Marshal Kisaragi to hold out just a little while longer!"

Fydor nodded, and Leif set off at a run.

He shoved past the door guards, offering them no explanation, he slammed himself into the doors, throwing them open and kept on running!

He got through and shoved past some frightened courtiers until he reached the throne. "Violet! When did the lives of Veni-Yan become worthless?" he shouted!

"Address me as 'Queen Violet!" She said casually.

_I shall, once you _earn _it_. Leif thought. "Where are the civilians?"

"They are in the shelter, where they will stay until the end of this battle! You never understood your duty as a Veni-Yan warrior!" Violet spat, "Your duty is to defend the people of Atheia, not place them in harm's way!"

"I know more than half of the young men will take up arms to defend the walls _willingly_ if you'd only ask! The women too—"

"You would kill my people!" Violet snapped.

"Have you seen what awaits you outside this pretty palace?" Leif demanded. "Do you not realize what will happen to your people if your defenders fall? We can hold the wall—" Leif said, and faltered for he felt as if he had just told a lie, but he gathered himself and finished, "_If_ we have the reinforcements!"

"There are not enough bows and arrows for all of the farmers."

"Any good shepherd can use a sling, how many of the farmers have flocks? Bloody stars, how many are hunters and have their own bows even?" Leif demanded. "If they have nothing else, give them rocks, give them pikes, there are well over five thousand rat creatures out there!"

"It is your duty as a member of the Veni-Yan order to protect the people!" Violet hissed, "Not put them in harm's way!"

"You do not have to tell me twice," Leif growled, "Clearly _you_ do not understand your duty as their queen! All we need is someone to fire _more_ arrows, _more_ pikes to shove ladders away, we haven't been overrun yet, and we do not have to be! We can hold out until the Gargoyles wake!"

"And what good will they do?" Violet scoffed.

"Nearly as much good as five hundred farmers and their wives," Leif said scowling, "But you will not give me that, will you?"

"I would if I could trust you." Violet sneered, "But I know you. How do I know you'll not abandon them as you did my brother?"

Leif felt a wave of astonishment wash over him! "I never abandoned Birch!"

Violet snapped, "If that were true you'd have died so that he could escape, not the other way around! You abandoned him, and then you abandoned me in the final moments of the fall!"

Actually Leif had left her in what he thought was a safe place with a sizable guard so he could fight a dragon, and he had returned jut before they were turned to stone, but she hadn't noticed, having been too busy transforming.

But he didn't need to do the impossible and prove to her that he'd never abandoned either of his cousins. He had his hands full doing the impossible and saving the kingdom!

He held his hands in the air, "If it helps, cousin, execute _me_ for treason. But do not execute those heroes on the walls!"

"I would not execute my own soldiers!" Violet sounded surprised.

"True. I would call refusing to aid them 'cold blooded murder." Leif shot back.

"Your duty is to protect the people—"

_Three times you hard headed—_ Leif didn't even finish the thought before he answered, "I've offered you _my_ life, I have nothing else to give you. I only ask you to call for volunteers! You do not trust me, but as the queen you must set aside personal vendettas and do what is best for your people. Fight with us, as you did the night of the fall, let the civilians fight, if we all die, _they_ all die. At least this way, many of them will live, and so will many Veni-Yan! How many could have been spared if we'd recruited volunteers from the very awakening?"

Violet sank into her throne, and closed her eyes.

There was a murmur through the court, Leif half expected the next words out of her mouth to be "kill him."

However the queen stood up tall, she reached down to her waist and drew her sword. "Captain," She roared, "Call my people to the walls!"

**To Be Continued . . .  
****Author's Note: **The first chapter devoted entirely to original characters, it cuts off at a bad point, I wanted one that left you in greater suspense, dear reader. The next one will also be entirely OC, a mere warning, many people _hate_ Original Characters, but I think I've earned enough of your trust to keep you reading beyond these two chapters until we can return to our main cast.

If not, I shall miss you.

But, the battle is only just beginning,and there's still four chapters to go before the end of Act One! Enjoy!


	17. Atheian Sunset

**Chapter Seventeen  
****Atheian Sunset**

**3 Hours to Sunset . . .**

Loki watched Baldur very carefully. "They can swarm the walls if they wish, but they cannot get over them yet."

"I can see." Baldur said coolly.

"Why not just do it yourself?" Loki asked. "I can see you mean to bring about the second fall, why not take a personal role, as Skadi did before?"

Baldur smiled, "Because this time I do not have to. Last time all of us dragons fought along with the humans to destroy the rat creatures. Your mother died in that battle, as did so many of our kind. The council decided as you _do _know, never to interfere again, to leave the humans to their own devices and retreat underground and slumber." Baldur grinned, "However, your father and Skadi here chose to stay above ground. Odin to ensure that the rat creatures would not bring harm to Queen Magnolia and Skadi to make sure that the Atheians never woke. A task she failed." Baldur said, glaring at Skadi who cringed.

"No matter now. Odin and Thor refuse to get involved, the rat creatures have had two hundred years to multiply while the humans despite your efforts to re-colonize—yes I know it was you—have failed to have such a wondrous boom! Even those Gargoyles you brought in are dwindling, though their reproduction is far too slow anyway. They were amusing at first, but now Kingbok and his warriors know they are nothing to fear during the day, and in one day, Atheia will fall. I have no intention of waiting for darkness."

Loki smiled, _Oh how I would love to kill you, Baldur_. Loki thought. But he smiled pleasantly and said, "I think you overestimate your chances. No one has ever won a game with sixteen pawns."

"Of course not." Baldur smiled, "Luckily _I_ am the king."

Loki shrugged; clearly Baldur had caught the reference, but refused to acknowledge it.

_Just you watch. I'll take a knight—or a samurai—over a pawn any day._ Loki leaned back against a tree.

He didn't want the war to end until it stopped being interesting, he didn't want the Atheians to be wiped out until they became boring, he would prefer if Hiromi did not die until . . . whatever it was that he felt for her disappeared, but if it ended, if everyone died before any of that, he'd lose no sleep.

He turned away from the walls and shrugged, then looked back quickly as he heard a woman's scream!

Had Hiromi just—no . . . it was just one of the Veni-Yan . . . not that he really cared of course, because he was above such things . . . hey wait . . .

His sharp, dragon eyes peered towards the walls, the number of Atheians had more than doubled!

He couldn't hide the genuine smile that spread across his face. Couldn't Baldur see why he _liked_ this game? There were times when even _he_ didn't know what would happen next!

_Give it your best, humans_. Loki thought. _This is one time you've even got _me _rooting for you_!

* * *

Almasy reached into the quiver he'd taken from the armory and fitted an arrow to his bow. He prepared to draw it back and fire when a strong gloved hand held his firmly in place. 

"What are you doing here?" Hiromi demanded.

"They called for volunteers to help you all fight on the walls!" Almasy said, "I wanted to help, they knew who I was and they let me!" He said proudly.

Hiromi shook her head, "No. You will _not_ get involved in this. You should go back to the shelter." She did not raise her voice—she never really did when speaking to him—but somehow he heard her over the din of war, and her words were just as devastating as those of any screaming parent.

"I don't have super powers like you and the headmaster, but I've seen rats killed before, I know how to do it!" Almasy cried in defiance! How was he going to impress this girl if she wouldn't let him fight? He _knew_ it wasn't a game or anything, but he also knew that until she stopped thinking of him as a kid he didn't have a prayer with her.

Just as he knew she would, the first words Hiromi spoke next were "You are too young for this." She stood tall and pointed out at the mass of enemies, "You have seen rat creatures killed, but you have never been the one doing the killing. I cannot expose you to that, not as a child. If we are overrun here, if _we_ should die there is a good chance the people in the shelter will survive long enough for the gargoyles to wake. If we fall you may survive . . . but not if you are here."

Almasy's shoulders slumped, he dropped the bow and arrows, though he wished he didn't have to. He liked Hiromi, had a crush on her really, there was no point denying it.

But she was wrong. Killing a rat creature would be no big deal, they were evil monsters after all, and heroes, the kind who saved the day and got the girl had to kill the monsters. He was already _living_ the fairy tale; he might as well be the hero.

Still, the look on her face seemed sincere and pleading and he didn't want to refuse her since that would just be immature and further hamper his chances with her. He dragged his feet a bit, but did head back for the shelter.

When would he get his chance to fight, he wondered.

* * *

**2 Hours to Sunset . . .**

Violet had not seen battle since the fall, and even then it had not been her finest hour. She was trained to be a diplomat, wars didn't interest her. Birch had been raised as the soldier.

"I'll never know what you see in my cousin." She said to lady Kisaragi, who was so surprised she dropped her bow.

"Wh-what?"

"But I'll admit the rats are dropping much faster with these extra hands! What a fool I've been, all this time denying my people the right to claim their _revenge_!"

Violet wouldn't deny that she blamed Leif for her brother's death, but she also knew that he'd been right and the time for hiding behind her title as queen was over. It was time to fight!

She stood on the walls, glaring out at the rat creatures. "You want my kingdom? Come and take it from me." She said, holding her sword tightly.

She looked to her marshal of the armies, "You've done well giving them a ramp! Now let them climb it!"

"Wh-What?" She repeated, though this time rather than dropping her bow she gripped it tighter.

"Do it." Violet smiled. "My cousin is not the only Veni-Yan Kari, remember?"

Lady Kisaragi frowned, and raised her sword, "Bowmen, aim higher, pikemen let them climb the mound!" She looked at Violet, "If even one of them gets over the wall—"

"Oh they won't get that far." Violet said darkly.

The rat creatures began to climb, how many were there? Dozens? Hundreds? How many had gone into making that ramp of theirs, a thousand?

"Ashes to ashes," Violet said with a cruel smile, "dust to dust."

A whirlwind kicked up, dust and dirt flew about and the rats froze in their tracks!

Violet moved her arms about gracefully, watching carefully as her creation took shape.

From the dust cloud came arms, legs, a head . . . she winked at her new Marshal of the Armies as the golem seemed to suck air into itself, then blow it back out at the horde with all the force of a hurricane!

It turned to the mound of dead bodies, it began to take massive handfuls, and hurl them back into the mass of soldiers, their living comrades along with them, some flying a hundred feet into the air!

To say that Violet watched without emotion would be a lie. She took great _pleasure_ in the slaughter she was inflicting. They were mere animals after all, animals that had killed her family.

And it could be argued that she was not killing anyone, she was only removing the ramp of dead bodies with her little dust puppet, if some rats got thrown in the process that was just an 'unfortunate' coincidence.

She threw them aside with her monstrosity, blew them away with her whirlwind, until the mound of bodies was reduced to nothing but disturbed earth and stone!

The rats panicked, and many of them fled! Violet turned to lady Kisaragi and laughed, "Two hundred and twelve years of vengeance!"

The marshal seemed impressed, but not in a positive way. Violet shrugged and fell from the wall, laying on her back looking up at the setting sun she whispered weakly, "Did that help?"

"Y-yes ma'am!" Lady Kisaragi stammered. "With no corpse walls we may just hold until the gargoyles wake!"

"Good . . ." Violet said with a sigh of relief, "Because I do not think . . . I can do it again." She said honestly.

"Good." Lady Kisaragi said.

Violet rolled her eyes. How could _that_ be too much for the samurai after the number _she'd_ pulled not so many nights ago? Or her actions during the Awakening? One of the reasons Violet liked Hiromi was the spells she'd used to decimate large numbers of rats during that battle.

The queen laughed softly as she pulled herself to her feet, "Spreading _fear_ in the enemy ranks is almost as good as killing them. If they're scared of you they won't want to fight you."

"I know how to wage war. My people _have_ been doing it for generations." Kisaragi said.

Violet smiled, "Then you know that they must fear us."

"I know what it is like to be afraid." The foreign woman said, looking at Violet's handiwork without admiration.

Violet just blinked. "Lighten up." She said. _They're just animals._

The marshal just turned away and shouted, "Keep firing!"

Suddenly the entire wall shook, a wall of flame shot up from beneath them, to Violet it looked as if the sky were aflame!

"The gates!" Someone screamed.

"They've broken through the gates!"

"They've what?" Violet coughed as a pair of soldiers helped her to her feet. "No!" She struggled to stand on her own as one of the guards handed her sword to her. "A ball of fire to force the gate? Just like the fall?" Violet felt her heart stop! "It really is a dragon!"

**

* * *

**

**1 Hour to Sunset . . .**

"Get off the wall!" Hiromi called, "Everyone run! Get to the shelter!"

She looked at the enemy masses. It was dark, she couldn't see far. Had it been _him_? She hadn't thought he'd be so direct, and all because she'd refused to let him do as he pleased with the foreign gargoyles!

Was this all her fault?

She saw Leif leap off of the wall, sword drawn, Fydor and other members of the Eliteleapt head first into the enemy horde as other Veni-Yan warriors fell back covering the civilians whom the rats seemed all too eager to go after.

She drew her katana and leapt off of the wall into the mass of rat creatures charging into the courtyard, "Stay away from them!" She gasped as she landed on a rat that had been about to pounce on a woman who was probably no older than Hiromi herself.

She'd knocked the wind out of the rat, if it was smart it'd stay on the ground.

"M-Marshal?" The girl whimpered.

"Don't stand here. I told you to run." Hiromi whispered, and whether or not the young woman actually heard her, she _did_ turn and run away.

Hiromi spun her sword about and sprang for the next opponent; sadly the rats were so thick she did not have far to spring!

* * *

Violet was in shock as two of her guards helped her back to her keep, she reached the gates and shoved them away. "Let my people in first!" She shouted. 

"They will be safe, get inside!" One of the guards insisted, and Violet shoved him away.

"When the last of them is safe!" She stood as tall as she could, and held her sword—which now seemed quite heavy—in both hands, "When my people are safe I will worry for myself!" She glared at the line of fleeing civilians. Bloody stars, _why_ had she listened to Leif?

It was all his fault! If he'd just listened to her and kept the people safe only Veni-Yan would be dying now, they were _trained_ to fight and die!

The people ran, and she was sure most of them were safe, but before the last of them could make it through—followed by the Veni-Yan, who covered the retreat—the rat creatures swarmed in!

"You stinking animals," Violet hissed, "I'll kill you all!"

There was a general scream from the rats and it filled her with satisfaction! So they knew her, knew they ought to be afraid.

How fitting.

"_D-Dragon_!" One of the rats screamed, and the others seemed to take up the same scream!

Violet's sword fell more than a few inches as she looked to the roof of her palace!

The light was dimming, but there was no mistaking the two figures standing up there.

And one of them was clearly a dragon!

Golden scales and a mane of red hair—or fur, she wasn't sure—that flowed like fire! He had great powerful arms like a man's, and legs like an eagle's, his tail was long and ended in a tuft of fiery red.

Standing in his palm was a young woman, probably even younger than Violet! She held a sword in her hands and leapt from the dragon's hand to the ground right in front of Violet!

She had brown hair, and lightly tanned skin, wore a green cloak and rather plain cloths, she looked back at Violet, then turned back to the rat creatures and shouted, "Stay away from my people!"

"It's Queen _Thorn_!" Fydor gasped.

"What?" Violet yelped, what nonsense was this? Sure this girl looked a lot like her, but she was so young! Violet wanted to shout at him, tell him he was wrong, that he was insane!

But who else but an exceptionally powerful Veni-Yan Kari could have leapt from the top of the castle and survived? And who else would resemble Violet so closely?

"Queen Thorn!" Some of the commoners cried, but Violet only scowled.

I_ am the queen!_ She thought angrily. This girl might not even _be _thorn! Maybe . . . maybe . . . maybe Violet's mother had had another child before she died, maybe that child had gone off and had children of her own with some other survivor descendant, maybe there was a colony of Atheians this girl represented, maybe she was Violet's niece, or grand niece!

She _couldn't_ be Thorn!

"_Kill the queen_!" A large rat creature shouted, "_Kill both queens_!"

Violet glared, and then she heard the sound of stone cracking.

She smiled now, and looked up again. The dragon roared loudly and leapt off of the palace, onto a mass of rats! He leapt again, and a third time, which took him far out of sight. The rats went into a frenzy even after his departure!

Their fear only grew when Stone Skin roared!

Violet licked her lips in excitement as the great gray gargoyle threw himself off of the castle, spreading his wings, his enormous claymore gripped tightly in both hands, he roared again and the clans answered with cries of their own.

Gargoyle after gargoyle spread their wings and swooped towards the battle below!

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note:** Now before anyone says "How did Thor bring Thorn back?" I'll tell you that'll be explained in the very beginning of act two! It was originally a part of this chapter but I removed it (making this chapter much shorter) because I felt that it was a bad time to go from the heat of battle to the rather calm and pleasant scene of Thorn's awakening (note AWAKENING, not RESURECTION) and having Thor explain the situation and her agreeing to help save her kingdom (again). Further it makes her appearance at the end of the chapter all the more unexpected, if I'd posted her awakening first as I'd planned to you'd know she'd come to save the day sooner or later, this way it's more exciting.


	18. Bending the Rules

**Chapter Eighteen  
****Bending the Rules**

**

* * *

**

Elisa smiled a thin smile as she saw Goliath soar towards the castle. "He's back." She spoke into a mike on her jacket, which would convey the message to Angela and Broadway.

She waited only a moment for Goliath to reach the castle, and quickly greeted him. "I'm glad you're safe!" Any luck?" She asked, knowing perfectly well that the answer would be "no"

"None." Goliath sighed.

"Well I'm glad you came back," Elisa said.

"Not for long. I only returned to seek Kisaragi, I thought he might know how to better hunt these creatures." Goliath said. He sounded weary, though a full day of stone hibernation should have rejuvenated him.

Elisa was concerned, she hoped he'd perk up if they got to Atheia.

She also hoped she wasn't crazy to go to Atheia with them! She was no soldier, and she didn't really want to be. Nonetheless for Goliath and his clan she'd fight anything, even a war.

"Where is the Atheian?" Goliath asked.

"Oh . . . Matt took him cloths shopping . . ." Elisa said.

Goliath groaned, and Elisa took his arm. "Hey, don't worry. I'm sure Broadway and Angela will want to go out and look for the rats while you wait for Matt and the samurai."

"Yes . . ." Goliath said.

But, as planned, Broadway found them first.

"Goliath!" He cried, "Goliath come quick!"

"What? What is it?" Goliath asked, concern coming upon him quickly.

"It's—it's the rat creatures! Come quick!" Broadway said.

"What?" Goliath roared, eyes flashing white he clenched his fists, "Where are they?"

"F-follow me!" Broadway said, doing a good job of pretending to be out of breath.

Goliath growled and followed Broadway, Elisa followed Goliath.

_This had better work, Angela, _Elisa thought grimly as she followed Goliath and Broadway down the halls of the castle.

* * *

Angela took a steadying breath, "Now you understand the role you'll play?" 

"_I think so . . . do you comrade_?" Dingeye asked.

"_I understand that we can be _killed." Thura said with eyes half closed in annoyance.

"I need your help." Angela said, "If you two won't do it, what chance will we have of rescuing our friends?"

"_And you promise we will not die_?" Dingeye asked.

"Yes." Angela nodded. She smiled, "I won't let anything happen to you."

Dingeye looked at Thura, who shrugged. The black rat creature shifted uneasily, then nodded, "_Very well. You half-dragons are not war hardened heroes like my comrade and me . . . so we will help you._"

Angela smiled, "Thank you. You have no idea how important our friends are to us." She said.

"_You are correct._" Thura said. "_We have no idea. We have always been told that you eat your own dead._" "Oh . . . well we do not." Angela said with a frown.

"_Of course not._ _You have no need to, your larders are full of such delectable, magnificent edible —_" Dingeye began but stopped himself and said, "_I mean . . . yes, we believe you_."

Angela smiled, "If this works, Goliath—my father—will be most thankful."

"_Yes well . . . it is the duty of the strong to protect the weak_." Dingeye said, "_So we warriors are happy to help you_."

"Where did you hear that?" Angela asked.

"_Our mother of course_!" Thura said, "_She always told us that. That is why we became warriors._"

Angela smiled, but she though to herself that though she had been told the rat creatures were evil, the words they spoke did not sound like the sort of thing evil mothers would tell their evil children.

Angela spread her wings, "All right! Let us begin!"

* * *

Goliath ran after Broadway, and did not even slow when Angela appeared next to him! 

"Angela! What is going on here?" Goliath asked.

"The rat creatures! They're trying to steal baby Alexander!" She cried.

Goliath's eyes widened, how could these creatures be so evil as to attack an infant? He growled dangerously, if so much as a hair on the baby's head was damaged the rats would _suffer_!

Now that he knew where to go, Goliath easily sped ahead of Broadway, Elisa and Angela!

"N-no wait!" Angela cried, but Goliath couldn't wait!

He ran on, and when he reached the baby's room he slammed himself into the door, knocking it off its hinges!

"Goliath!" Elisa called from further down the hall!

Goliath looked around the room, the baby lay quiet in his crib, though he was awake—who could sleep through their door being smashed to splinters?—he was not crying.

There were no rat creatures, Goliath looked around and began to calm. They had not arrived yet . . .

He looked into the crib to be sure the baby was safe, and uninjured, when he saw that it was so he meant to turn around and face the doorway, ready to meet any oncoming threat!

The threat met him however as something large and heavy and covered in black fur barreled into him!

"_I will hold him down comrade_! _Take the infant_!"

Goliath growled, then roared, "**NO!**"

He threw the black furred rat back, it flew into Broadway who had just entered the room, Goliath hoped Broadway hadn't been hurt, but also knew he had no time to check!

He threw himself at the brown rat, who glared at him with those evil, unfeeling red eyes.

It tried to brace itself, but Goliath was simply too massive, too strong, and they fell to the ground, Goliath pinning the rat with one hand on its shoulder, the other raised and ready to punch!

"Stop!" Angela cried, and Goliath, assuming she was in some danger looked at her.

She was perfectly fine, in fact Goliath had to wonder why she was not fighting!

Broadway had the black rat in a headlock, but it was struggling to get free, and Elisa had only just entered the room, Angela however ignored Broadway who probably needed help and instead rushed over to Goliath and his quarry.

The brown rat creature however, whom Goliath was pinning suddenly placed a strong clawed hand on his face and began to shove him away!

Goliath roared, and grasped the rat's wrist, trying to force its hand away. It was a battle of strength and wills now, Goliath growled and the rat's red eyes narrowed and it began to hiss.

Its legs suddenly came into play, and it kicked Goliath in the stomach! He tried to bare the blow, but it did cause his grip on the rat's arm to weaken, and the rat succeeded in shoving him far enough away that it could free its other arm!

Now it had the advantage, its arms were long and though Goliath had knocked it a few inches back it still managed to reach out towards the crib.

Goliath threw himself forward and punched it in the face, he roared and raised his hand for a second blow as the black one charged!

He glared at it in surprise, how had it gotten loose from Broadway?

It ran towards Goliath , "_Hold him off comrade, I will complete the objective_!" It hissed, and leapt into the air towards the crib!

"No!" Angela cried.

"Look out!" Broadway called, holding onto a bleeding arm.

Goliath however would not be denied! His arm shot up and grabbed the rat out of midair! He threw it into the wall with a mighty roar!

"Stay away!" He warned.

The rat he had punched hissed, "_You half-dragons always remind us of why your kind must be annihilated_!"

There was no time worse, no words worse the creature could have spoken. Goliath glared at it, murder in his eyes and perhaps even in his heart, but suddenly he heard the rat he'd thrown into the wall shout, "_Triumph_!"

Goliath's head whipped around, as he had focused on the brown rat, the black one had leapt towards the crib and was even now reaching into it!

Its hands never reached Alexander.

In a rather flashy whirlwind Puck appeared! "Naughty, naughty! Now you know I cant let you lay a finger on the little tyke!"

"Puck?" Goliath asked in surprise.

"_Are you a d-dragon_?" The black rat creature, frozen with fright asked.

"Close enough for your understanding." Puck grinned, he wiggled his fingers in a scolding way, "But you don't belong here! Back to Atheia you go!"

"_Oh no_!" The rat groaned.

"_Yes_!" Angela gasped triumphantly.

A swirling vortex of light appeared near the far wall, Goliath's eyes widened.

The second rat creature, the one that Goliath was pinning, was sucked into the vortex as well, Goliath along with it!

He blinked as he fell into the swirling lights, when he opened his eyes again he was in a forest.

He could barely breathe as realization took him. "Atheia . . ." he whispered.

The two rat creatures were nearby, Goliath heard them speaking.

"_We are home comrade._"

"_Yes. Depressing, isn't it_?"

"_We'll be executed for sure._"

Goliath stood up to his full height. He looked and saw the vortex of light still there, though it was shrinking. If he did not go back now he might never get back.

He closed his eyes. Hudson, Lexington and Brooklyn needed him. He'd find a way back to Manhattan _with_ them.

Suddenly there was an excited bark! Goliath's eyes widened as Bronx leapt through the portal, followed by Elisa, who was followed by Broadway, who was followed by Angela.

Goliath shook his head in surprise, "We're here . . ." He said.

Angela smiled, "Yes. And we wouldn't have done it without their help." She said, referring to the two rat creatures who were cowering near a tree.

Goliath spread his wings and tried to look intimidating, "_You_." He growled.

"_We only did what we were asked_!" The black one cried.

"_Though we were not told that we would end up back here because of it_." The brown one noted.

Angela held up her hands, "Please father, Broadway and I found them and we knew they were harmless! I knew that if we used them to stage an attack on Alexander Puck would be able to send them, and _us_ to Atheia!"

Goliath clenched a fist, "I see . . ." He said. "You did not have to deceive me."

"We're sorry. We weren't sure if you'd approve." Angela said.

Goliath shuddered, because he realized he wouldn't have. He'd never have let the infant be risked, even if it was the only way to get to Atheia. "How will we get home?" He asked.

"By reopening the portal here." Angela said. "They used it to reach Manhattan, we'll use it to go home . . . after we save our friends."

Goliath took a deep breath, then allowed a smile. "Then we should get to it." He turned to the rats, "As for the two of you—"

"_Oh please do not hit me again_!" The brown one cried.

"I will not . . ." Goliath said, pausing dramatically before adding, "If you tell me where I might find my clan."

"_If they live, then they will be in Castle Thorn_!" The black one said.

"Where is it?" Elisa asked.

The black rat seemed to think on that for a moment, then looked around and pointed off towards a hill on the horizon. "_There_." It said.

It pointed towards a fiery glow, and pillar of smoke on the horizon.

* * *

**To Be Continued . . .  
****Author's Note: **I want to note that though Angela will explain this later, at no time was the baby in real danger, Puck however didn't know this, or if he did he pretended he didn't. Seemed, shall we say, "Puckish" enough. 

During the planning for this phase the Rat Cretures would actually grab Alexander and take him with them through the portal, allowing Puck to follow. Because in Atheia Alexander would be in constant danger until the war's end, Puck would have fairly flexible use of his power, and he'd be allowed to match wits with Loki. However, sadly this left a major problem, first the gargoyles wouldn't really be stranded anymore, there'd be little reason for Puck not to send them all back and in that way keep the baby safe, he'd only be endangering Alexander _more_ by keeping him in Atheia, and I don't think he's allowed to do that.

Furthermore with Puck running around causing mayhem and trying to turn Loki's game into one of his own the question of "Where's Oberon during all this?" would come up. Oberon wouldn't let Puck run rampant like that, he'd get involved and I just don't want him in this story.

And in the end, Loki is my trouble maker, not puck and his real nemesis is Baldur, a contest between him and Puck would be an unnecessary distraction. So I wrote him out and had him stay behind, to compensate I now reveal a special secret: I am not a rat creature.

_If_ I write a sequel (unlikely as this story will be one of my last fanfictions for some time) I may allow Puck and Loki—if he survives—to compete against each other.


	19. Reunion

**Chapter Nineteen  
****Reunion**

**

* * *

**

Lexington opened his eyes after his first day in Atheia.

His second night was horrifying!

He heard Stoneskin roar with fury that rivaled Goliath in ferocity, and a chorus of roars followed!

Lexington's hand flew to the dagger he carried before he even thought about it!

He looked to Brooklyn who looked down at the scene not without fear, but with fear well controlled.

"Our cousins need us," Hudson said as gargoyles of every clan threw themselves off of the wall, "What do ye want to do lad?"

"Fight." Brooklyn said, his eyes flashed. "We fight by their sides, like we're supposed to."

"R-right." Lexington said.

"Just tell yourself Lex . . . that it's the same as the Vikings." Brooklyn said.

Lexington grinned, "Compared to the Steel Clan, and the Hunters? I think we can handle this."

"No time for talk," Braids said, a long curved dagger in each hand, "They are _in_ the courtyard! We fight!"

She threw herself off of the castle, and a pair of river warriors followed her, Devi and Danica came next, Danica glared at Dark Eyes, "Do me a favor and keep your distance coward, with those red eyes of yours I may just confuse you for a rat creature and who knows what this sword would do to your skull?" She sneered.

Dark Eyes' blood red eyes glowed for a moment, but he gave no other signs of having heard her. He drew both his swords and handed one of them to Brooklyn, "You _will_ need this."

Brooklyn frowned and hesitted, but after an uncomfortable moment nodded and took the sword. "Right!"

"Stay with me and my brother," Alabaster said, "We will watch your back and you will watch ours, not so?"

"R-right." Brooklyn said, holding Dark Eyes' sword in both hands. "Ready Lex?"

"Uh . . . sure." Lexington said.

"Here we go!" Brooklyn said, he and the twins threw themselves off of the wall, Lexington meant to follow but a hand on his shoulder stopped him!

He turned around and saw Goldenrose, she had no weapons in her hands, but battle was in her eyes. "Look at them, they are _in_ the courtyard! They are destroying the castle's most beautiful . . ." Rose trailed off, looking away from the battle. "I . . . well I . . . I should not have been so hard on Dark Eyes before, it is important that you be properly armed so . . ." She pulled from behind her back a sling and stones, "Stay above their reach. Try not to hit the humans."

Lexington frowned, "That doesn't seem very honorable."

"Honor is meaningless to the dead, I want you to live." Rose said, turning and walking away, leaving Lexington nothing to do but throw himself into the battle!

He leapt off of the battlement, and following the beautiful female's advice, took the sling and the bullets. He couldn't use it while gliding of course, he needed his arms spread, but he could land on the wall and fire from there.

From the wall he'd be free of human targets, no chance of friendly fire . . .

* * *

Goliath saw the smoke rising on the horizon and turned to the others, "We have to go! Now!" 

"Yes . . ." Angela said slowly.

"What's wrong?" Broadway asked, sounding concerned.

"Isn't there some other way besides simply fighting? How can we make a difference?" Angela asked.

"The five of us can make a big difference," Elisa said, and Goliath noticed for the first time that she was there.

Of course he knew she was there, but he only truly realized what that meant now!

She was no soldier! Though she had proven herself a capable warrior time and time again he feared for her in this battle.

However he trusted her, knew she would be all right as long as he stayed with her.

Somehow, however, the fear did not go away, and he feared for this human woman just as much as he did for any member of his clan, for in his mind Elisa was a member of his clan.

He clenched a fist and said, "Let us go! We must see what the situation is, and what aid, if any, we can offer!"

"Yes!" Angela said, "For our friends!"

"For Brooklyn and Lex and Hudson!" Broadway agreed, punching a fist into his palm.

Bronx growled in agreement, and Goliath took Elisa onto his back, her arms wrapped around his shoulders while Broadway and Angela worked together to lift Bronx.

They ran for the nearest hill and leapt off gliding low until they caught a good enough updraft to take them high into the air.

Goliath saw the castle, it was much larger than Wyvern, none the less to see it, a portion of its walls aflame seemed somehow familiar.

As he neared the battle he saw the silhouettes of other gargoyles swooping down on the enemy and generally causing mayhem! He let out a loud roar, a threat to the enemy and a salute to his brothers, he was coming to their aid and he would be there shortly!

* * *

Lexington landed on the wall and immediately began to hurtle sling stones at the rat creatures! 

But it was futile, and he could see it! They were swarming into the courtyard, and there were thousands, _thousands_ more outside!

He fired bullet after bullet, it seemed impossible to miss, the enemy was so tightly packed together.

He had to be crazy! What could he do? What could any of them do against such numbers? The rat creatures were unstoppable!

He roared, and hurled stone after stone!

A small part of him though he heard Goliath's roar in answer to his own, imagined he saw the great gargoyle just off in the distance.

Now was not the time for such nonsense! Lexington hurled another stone, and another! "Go away!" He commanded, "Go away!"

"They will not. They will never go away. They will never stop." A voice said. Lexington turned around and saw a hooded figure approaching him.

He assumed it was an Atheian soldier, and said, "You have to help me!"

"Help you? Why would I do that?" The figure asked, pulling away its hood to reveal a beautiful woman with long blond hair.

She held out her arms, and Lex saw that she was missing a hand. She said, "Put down your weapons. They only want the humans."

"Wh-what?"

"This is my offering of peace, little gargoyle. Stand down, tell your people to stand down, and only the humans will die. Your kind and the rat creatures can exist peacefully. They will not use this castle once everyone else is dead, you gargoyles may have it, it will be your territory, your domain. You need not fear, for I will keep my word."

"Your word?" Lexington raised a proverbial eyebrow.

"I am The Hooded One." The woman said, smiling warmly at him, "But I am really not so bad. Stand down, we can be such friends. I can give you everything you want, little one. I can make you everything you want to be." She moved her hand about slowly, and a small sphere appeared before her, it showed Manhattan, it showed home! "I can send you back . . . you can call this all a bad day dream . . . or . . ." She smiled and a new image appeared, one of Lexington standing before an assembly of other Gargoyles, all of whom were bowing before him, "Perhaps you want to rule?" Her smile began to expose sharp fangs as she came closer, "Or is treasure your wish?" She asked, and the image in the sphere became Lexington, with a very attractive female on either side of him laying comfortably on a pile of gold and jewels.

The Hooded One said, "I can make it all happen! I can be your best friend . . . do not force me to be your very worst enemy." She said, the sphere disappearing and a scythe replacing it in her solitary hand.

Lexington glared at her, the dagger at his hip was vibrating for some reason, and it surprised him! He looked at it, was the wall shaking? No. Why would the blade?

As the woman took another step closer, Lexington felt the blade throb like a beating heart, with another step came another throb.

Somehow the image of himself drawing the dagger became dominant in his mind, and it overrode the illusions the Hooded One was showing him! He drew the dagger with a growl and in a movement so quick that his own eyes did not see it, he slashed out, taking the woman by surprise!

He scythe clattered to the floor, she screamed in pain!

She held onto her face, and blood gushed through her fingers, she screamed at Lexington and slammed her arm—the one without a hand—into the ground in rage!

"You have drawn first blood, not I!" She hissed, pulling a hand away, revealing a deep gash going right between her eyes! "You fool! This was your last chance! Tonight Atheia falls again, and this time forever! I will not spare the humans this time, I will see them all dead for my master!" She laughed and threw her hood aside, revealing a human body clothed in old rags . . . but rapidly growing a long tail!

Wings ripped through her back and spread wide, and kept growing!

The rags she wore began to split apart revealing dark gray scales rather than cream colored human flesh!

Her neck began to extend, and her arms grew larger, longer and rippled with muscle, her single hand became large and clawed.

Her scream became a growl, and then a roar! Lexington felt fear grip him as the mutant began to grow!

Suddenly a yellow streak slammed into the growing creature, throwing it off of the wall and into the flames, Godlenrose stood where the monster had a moment ago, and looked at Lexington, "Are you all right?"

"Y-yes . . . why did you help me?" Lexington asked.

"Why would I not?" Rose snapped back. She smoothed out her dress and said in a rather distressed voice, "I was never made for battle!"

Lexington was inclined to agree, Goldenrose was simply too . . . well, the words "high maintenance" came to mind. But she had just rescued him from . . . whatever that thing was. "We have to get back to the others," Lexington said, "We'll be safer there!

"Yes . . . very well." Goldenrose said, spreading her wings wide she leapt from the walls, and Lexington followed.

But they did not go far before rat creatures noticed them, and began to hurl stones!

"Higher! Glide higher!" Lexington cried, but his companion screamed in surprise and tumbled to the ground!

Without thinking he swooped down and landed next to her, he tried to help her to her feet as scores of rat creatures encircled them.

"My wing!" Goldenrose pouted, and Lexington could see that a sizeable rock must have clipped her wing, resulting in her fall.

He held the dagger firmly now and waved it towards the rat creautres, "Get away!" He roared, but they just smiled their frightening, tooth filled smiles, and hissed their long loud hiss.

Lexington felt his heart throbbing in his chest, "Go, save yourself!" Rose whispered.

"I'll protect you!" Lexington assured her, though he wasn't sure how he'd manage that.

"_I have always wanted to feast on half-dragon meat._" One of the rat creatures said.

Another rat, covered in scars and missing an eye crawled forward, followed by another similarly scarred warrior, and another. They hissed and the other rat creatures seemed to back away just a bit from them. "The scarred legion," Rose whispered, "They're the _best _warriors the rat creatures have! If they're here Kingbok himself must be leading this attack!"

That didn't matter to Lexington, Kingbok could be standing right in front of him, he'd be equally dead. He stood in front of the injured Goldenrose, meaning to keep her protected from the scarred legionnaires, she squeezed his arm and again said, "Escape!"

He ignored her and shouted, "Get back!" though is occurred to him that they were encircled, he'd meant for her to get back fom the legionnaires, and she did inch back but a humongous rat with scars of his own, though not quite as extensive as his three companions came forward instead and smiled that frightening smile.

"_I am General Koodge, second only to Kingbok in this army. Know before your mortal forms are made useless, that you will not die. For I will see to it personally that songs are sung of this night forever, your evil will never be forgotten and in that way you will be made immortal. I do hope that is some consolation._"

Lexington scowled, and roared!

And Goliath—yes _Goliath_ answered!

He slammed into the ground right in front of Lexington, Elisa slid off of his back and he spread his wings menacingly! The rat creature general stood up on his hind legs and spread his arms wide, he hissed loudly at Goliath, who took a step forward and roared in response!

Suddenly Lexington was surrounded by his old friends, Broadway, Angela, Bronx were all with him!

Was this some illusion? How could they truly be with him?

His heart was pounding, Goldenrose squeezed his arm even tighter, "Who are these—" She began but received no answer as the rat general threw himself at Goliath, who'd simultaneously thrown himself at the rat!

Bronx howled and sprang for a scarred rat, while another pounced on Broadway!

Angela threw herself at the rat in an attempt to save Broadway, Bronx had things well under hand with his foe, and Goliath and the general were locked in mortal combat, fighting so viciously that none of the other rat creatures seemed interested in getting too close.

Not so in the case of the third legionnaire (the one missing an eye) and the other rats near Lexington.

"_Fresh meat_!" The rat creature hissed as it leapt for Lexington, flanked by a pair of its fellows!

Lexington's blade moved faster than the eye, he struck and the rat creature crumpled and fell to the ground!

It got up, and hissed at him, the wound on its forearm would just be another scar to it, Lexington guessed.

He kept himself between the rat and Rose, who had gotten to her feet now, though her injured wing hung limply.

The two others came charging in, Lexington lunged for one of them, but wished desperately to take the other before it could reach Goldenrose!

The dagger made that wish come true, striking like lightning it split the first rat creature's hand down the middle, causing the beast to roll around on the ground screaming in pain, Lexington's hand flew for the second rat creature, and with a quick uppercut he slashed the side of its face!

Both rats were on the ground writhing in pain, but they were not dead. The scarred rat got up and came for Lexington!

With a flash of gray and a shriek however, he stopped, and looked over his shoulder at the enormous sword pinning him to the ground like an insect in a museum.

Stone Skin stood over the blade, Dark Eyes and Alabaster swooped in next, followed by Brooklyn and Hudson!

Stoneskin tore his sword free from the rat—whom Lexington was certain should have already been dead, though it still emitted a gurgled scream—and roared loudly!

His sons, and the remaining members of the Manhattan clan threw themselves at the rat creatures! Lexington looked at Goliath, who raised the rat creature general high over his head, and threw him into a crowd of his soldiers! The rats began to panic, and began to run!

"Run! All of you run!" Lexington whispered.

The rats did indeed run! They bumped into their charging comrades and confusion broke out! Dark Eyes threw himself into that confusion, his single sword cutting left and right, Stone Skin following.

Alabaster however sheathed both his blood coated swords and came over to Rose, he picked her up and held her in his arms, wrapping his wings around her he said, "Thank goodness you are safe. Without you, life just would not be worth living, not so?"

"Oh Alabaster, I knew you'd come!" Rose cooed.

Lexington wasn't sure what it was, but something inside him burned! This didn't feel right, in fact Lex wasn't completely sure what this feeling was, but he was on fire inside and he found himself glaring at Alabaster.

He _hadn't_ come! It was Lexington who'd just been protecting that clearly confused princess, not Alabaster! He just sort of showed up in time to receive all the thanks!

And why did that bother him anyway? It was obvious that those two already were or would soon become mates so it was none of Lexington's business who she thanked for her survival!

But it bothered him for some reason, to see her so happily wrapped up in her beloved's arms. And even when Alabaster winked at him and said, "Thank's for sticking with her," Lexington's odd emotion—which he refused to believe was anger—did not subside.

He just forced himself to say, "There's still a war going on."

"Not quite . . ." Brooklyn said, pointing with a bloody sword at the rat creatures fleeing from the Atheian soldiers. "They've got it covered Lex, we've _won_."

"You don't understand!" Lexington snapped, finding Brooklyn's ignorance a reasonable way to vent this unwanted and unexpected frustration, "There are thousands more outside the gates! These ones are just the first wave!"

As if to confirm Lexington's words, the flow of rats leaving began to slow and the number of rats charging in increased!

Brooklyn held Dark Eyes' sword tightly as those gargoyles and Atheians who had pursued the fleeing horde caught up to them at the gates.

What was left of the Veni-Yan order along with some volunteers stood by their gargoyle allies as the rat creature flood stopped flowing out of the castle and began to again flow _in_.

Along with them came a heavily scared monstrosity some giant rat creature built all wrong, it opened it's gapping mouth and said in a booming voice, "**_Kill all the flatlanders, kill all the half-dragons, kill everything and feast until the blood sun rises_!"**

**

* * *

**

Loki glared at the flow of rats. He smiled when Kingbok entered the battle.

It looked like prince Dook would soon become King, for Loki could feel in the dreaming that yet another Veni-Yan Kari had appeared—out of thin air it seemed—and the others were turning.

He laughed, and Bladur, misunderstanding slapped him on the shoulder, "That's the spirit! Enjoy this! Eat drink and be merry for by tomorrow _they_ die!"

Loki smiled, he felt a gentle pull in the dreaming, which Baldur, due to his arrogance, did not.

"I am Loki," He said quietly to himself, "and I will _always_ have an ace up my sleeve!"

**To Be Continued . . .**

* * *

**Author's Note:** Just one chapter left to the end of Act One! Hurrah! Incidentally I'll just right out and say it now that act one has been fun, and I look forward to act two, hope you'll all keep reading, and I hope the suspence isn't too much for you! 


	20. Ghost Circle

**Chapter Twenty  
****Ghost Circle**

* * *

Thorn stared grimfaced at the horde of rat creatures, they were far more numerous than she had thought, perhaps even more numerous than the horde of rats and the traitorous soldiers of pawa that had attacked Atheia in her time. 

She raised her sword high into the air, and glared back at her soldiers . . . or rather the soldiers of her descendant, and shouted "This battle isn't over! We'll get 'em all!"

One of the half-dragon creatures—the dragon had said they were . . . gargoyles?—put a talon on her shoulder and said, "If we can find someway to scare them off, it would be for the best. The humans cannot fight much longer and we are too few in number for this horde."

"My Marshal of the Armies can manage that easily!" The woman that Thorn had assumed was the queen, and her descendant said.

"But Queen Violet," a Veni-yan warrior said, confirming Thorn's assumption, and providing her with a name in just half a sentence, "Lady Kisaragi is _missing_¸ we've not seen her since we abandoned the walls!"

"What?" Violet demanded, she scowled, "Then let my worthless cousin—"

"We have no idea where the headmaster is." Said one of the gargoyles, this one a female with lavender-blue skin and raven hair. She did not seem dressed for war, really she did not seem dressed, it might have caused Thorn to believe the gargoyles were hedonistic, but she had a broader mind than that, Phoney Bone after all had rarely been seen wearing anything but his favorite gold star shirt, that had not made him a savage.

"Where are your dreaming masters?" Thorn demanded.

"We've just named them." The female gargoyle said with a lazy sigh.

"How can you be so calm at a time like this?" Violet demanded, the Gargoyle just shrugged.

Thorn shook her head, "If a mass casting will not serve, we will have to resort to violence." She said softly.

Or did it? As she saw the rat creature king burst through the defenses an idea came to her, and gripping her sword she rushed for the front!

No sooner had she arrived than the king did so as well, he commanded his hordes to kill the flat landers, and Thorn leapt high into the air!

She landed hard on top of the beast's head between his ears, and gripped a handful of fur, she flipped her sword in her hand so that she could stab it into the monster's skull.

He shook about violently, and screamed to his warriors to kill the little flat lander, but Thorn held tight.

She shouted over the voice of the king, "Call off your horde! Call them off or I kill you now! I am Queen Thorn Harvestar of Atheia, and I offer you a chance to withdraw your armies in peace now, if you do not then I will raise the dragons themselves against you!"

The rat creature seemed more concerned with the sword in her hand than the dragons, he said in a loud booming voice, "**_Stay thy hand, kill not_!**"

Thorn said to the king, "Take your army an' get back to your homes, great king."

"**_Not on the eve of our victory, flat land queen!_**" The king said firmly.

Thorn scoffed, "Don't make me kill you." She warned.

"**_If I could, I would rip your heart out, little flat lander_!**"

"Tough talk for one about to—" Thorn began then she noticed the two scarred rat creatures that had climbed up their kings legs, and onto his back.

She _had_ wondered why he hadn't tried to get her off by flailing. She raised her sword and glared at the rats, "He dies if you come any closer."

"_If he dies, we slay you flat lander_." One of the rats said.

"Don't make me do this, I will!" Thorn warned.

The two scarred rats leapt at her, she struck out like lightning, leaving a deep gash across one's chest, the other she avoided by throwing herself to the right, she brought her sword around and attempted to strike the remaining rat, but it dodged just as speedily as she had.

Thorn held tightly to the king, but with a mighty roar he threw his head back, the scarred rat fell and Thorn, seeing that the king meant to fall backwards and dislodge her leapt off of his head and into the horde.

The king fled. Thorn thought bitterly, _Fine. That concludes negotiations for now._

She raised her sword above her head and held it with two hands, words and war cries would do her no good now, she simply attacked.

* * *

Loki leaned against a tree as Baldur enjoyed the spectacle of the war. 

He saw them coming, and did nothing. He knew Baldur saw them too, how could he not notice the six warriors cutting a path through the rat creatures?

Judging by the cuts they'd sustained they were scarred legionnaires, a band not known for cowardice, so they were not likely retreating, but something was unusual in the way that they approached.

They came in speed and other rats not only got out of their way, but seemed to be thrown out of the way.

They neared and Loki spotted something odd about these rat.

The glint of steel in the torchlight!

Loki spotted the assassins and threw his hood back, he took a deep breath and spat fire at out them _through_ Baldur, catching the elder dragon in the blaze!

Baldur screamed in surprise, not pain, his robes caught fire.

The assassins knew they'd been made, and they threw off the now burning rat creature hides they'd used to disguise themselves, Loki sneered with joy—if that's possible—and spread his arms wide in greeting as the six warriors lunged towards him and the flaming Baldur,

"Book worm! So good to see you," Loki grinned, materializing a sword from thin air to meet the headmaster's blade, "Clever disguises, how ever did you know where to find us?"

The headmaster didn't answer, but Hiromi did, "We scented you out through the dreaming. It takes a lot of power to change form dragon, you and your comrades glow like beacons!"

Loki shoved the headmaster's blade away and blocked Hiromi's strike.

Such a spirited girl, he _almost_ believed she meant to kill him with that blow, but he knew better. She wasn't the killing kind. He materialized a second blade for his second hand and fought them both at once, laughing to himself as he did. "Very good! So you know what I am, well how do you plan on escaping alive?"

Hiromi scoffed, "The better question is how do _you_ plan to survive us both?"

Loki laughed, "By cutting your number down to one!" He said, and he struck out light lightning, knocking the headmaster's arms wide, his second sword rushed in towards the warrior's heart.

"_Visquis_!" Hiromi screamed, and suddenly the fire of the burning rat creature hides came to life, and a trio of flaming serpents sprang through the air and coiled themselves around Loki!

The dragon in human disguise groaned in agony as the flames set his cloak alight, "It burns" he screamed as he fell to his knees, he screamed in pain as his body was burned away, he cried out, "I'm dying! I'm dying! I'm melting! Oh what a world, what a world!" as he was slowly reduced to ash.

Goodness gracious, he was an _incredible_ actor!

He let the flames consume him, knowing that it was just an illusion, and that even if it weren't, he'd not be in terrible danger of being burned, being a dragon and all.

He felt his wings sprout from his back, felt his neck elongate, he roared a deafening roar, and grew!

"N-no! No you fool!" Baldur screamed, but Loki grew and grew until he was his full size, he dispelled the fiery serpent spell and smiled down at the humans, my they looked so small from up here.

In a deep dragon's voice, he said to Hiromi, "You think that's hot? I'll show you hot!"

He took a deep breath and breathed flame upon the Veni-Yan assassins!

* * *

Baldur scowled at Loki, the youth was doing this on purpose! He was ruining everything on purpose! 

The rats were starting to stir, for to them it seemed as if the Marshal of the armies had just summoned a _dragon _out of her flames!

"_D-dragon_!" One of them screamed, "_The flat landers have called upon the dragons_!"

Baldur scowled again, he took the scythe Loki had dropped, moving so quickly that it was in his hands before his four opponents even realized he'd gone!

Using the power that only an elder dragon such as himself possessed Baldur lunged towards Hiromi, who was easily thirty feet away, and made the distance in a second, he swung the scythe at her, the blunt end taking her on the side of the head.

Even though he had not used the blade, it had been enough.

He smiled to himself, satisfied until he felt a great heavy something slam down on him!

His eyes widened in surprise as he saw Loki's great black claw was what was holding him!

He fought to free himself from the dragon's clutches, but Loki had the advantage. He was transformed, Baldur was not.

Loki's eyes were aflame not with literal fire but with an intense inner burn that Baldur had only ever seen in the eyes of two other dragons.

The dragon known to the flat landers as The Great Red Dragon, and of course Odin.

For the briefest of seconds, Baldur was afraid. It was plain, Loki was _not_ playing. Not anymore.

"What are you going to do young fool?" Baldur sneered, "I am Baldur, I was named for a reason, I cannot die! Do you not know the legends from whence our names were taken?"

"I am Loki, named for a reason, do _you _not know the legends?" Loki asked darkly, squeezing Baldur until he felt his insides begin to liquefy.

"Why?" Baldur asked, feigning injury, pretending to be dying.

"Because I hate you." Loki said simply.

Ah. Well that Baldur could live with. He was afraid Loki had been set off by his murder of the human woman, there was no room in the Organization for such selfishness, if Loki was unwilling to share kills then he would have to be eliminated.

He was simply ambitious, that was acceptable . . . for now. Yes ambition was what the Organization needed now.

But the youth would have to be taught a lesson about defying his elders. With strength that defied his frail human form, and clearly surprised Loki, Odin tore himself free from the black dragon's grasp and before he hit the ground he was already growing into his massive, true self.

* * *

Leif saw the dragon coming before Hiromi did, he shouted a warning and she turned, tried to raise her katana in time but it would have been useless anyway. Leif began the words and movements for a shadow shield, but the spell died on his lips as the dragon slammed the scythe into the side of Hiromi's head. 

She fell to the ground, and Leif fell to his knees. Their four comrades rushed over, Leif fell forward onto his hands.

That did it.

This was all his doing, his fault! If he'd been stronger, Birch would never have died, and Birch would never have let the kingdom fall into such a state! If he'd been smarter he'd have known that the civilians on the walls would prove useless and perhaps they would not have been slaughterd when the gates fell, as he assumed they had been.

If he'd been faster, his beloved Hiromi would be alive.

He began to laugh darkly to himself, "Oh have it your way dragons." He said, putting has hand around the royal crest he wore. He tore it away and threw it with all his might. He turned to the large black dragon he and Hiromi had attempted to attack, it was now quarreling with a huge silver dragon.

The black dragon had a row of stone gray spikes going down it's neck connected one to another by a frill, it's powerful wings, independent of its arms—which looked like an eagle's talons—were like enormous triangular black sails on a sailing ship and they blocked out the very moon.

Good. Leifs powers _were_ darkness, they were stronger without light.

He held _Shadow Edge_ tightly in one hand, and with the other he drew his second sword, _his _sword.

Birch had been the keeper of _Shadow Edge_ and that responsibility had fallen to Leif, but Leif had always been the keeper of _Wraith Conjurer_, the sword forged from the scythe of the original hooded one.

As he picked up the blade a wave of relief washed over him as if he had just laid some deep fear to rest.

He knew it was not truly his fear, but that of the sword. The sword had been afraid that he would never draw it forth again, Leif had hoped never to draw it again.

He was not skilled in fighting with two swords, as the twins and Hiromi were. But he didn't need them for fighting.

The silver dragon, which was similar to the black but larger, more masculine and possessing two sets of arms instead of just one, roared at the black and was rewarded with a facefull of fire.

Birch had been killed by a Hooded One with multiple arms . . . well, well. Leif smiled darkly, he'd waited for this night even longer than he'd realized.

"Get away." Leif warned the soldiers, not wanting them to get caught in what he was going to do. They wouldn't survive.

"Headmaster, is that—"

"Go!" Leif snapped.

"But the Marshal, we have to—"

Leif ignored them. Holding both swords out he felt the power of fear surge through his right hand, and the power of death through his left.

_Give in to the Mist _. . . he heard a voice in his head whisper.

Yes, the headmaster thought, he would give in to the Mist . . . but first he would take the title of Dragon Slayer twice over.

The dragons both looked at him, their own quarrel forgotten, "Put it down worm!" The silver dragon warned.

"Know your place book worm, _I_ will kill this one, you see to your kingdom like a good little headmaster!" The black dragon said, waving it's talon at him as if he were a child to be shooed away.

Leif just smiled and crossed the blades, "The Lord of Locusts is lonely in his dark realm," He said, feeling the fear of his own sword pouring over into himself, his hands began to shake as the collective power of both swords threatened to claim him, "The House of Mists would welcome two new dragons to an eternity of torment!"

"Fool!" The silver dragon roared, he inhaled sharply and blew fire at Leif, the blaze was intense!

But it did not touch him, the two swords kept him safe, he didn't know or understand how, but they did.

The House of Mists was giving him this power, and all they wanted in return was the death of two dragons. The Lord of Locusts, an enemy Leif had swore his life to fighting suddenly seemed like a close and understanding friend.

The silver dragon's blaze stopped, the grass all around Leif was aflame, he supposed the soldiers and Hiromi were on fire now too if they hadn't listened to him and fled.

Well, Hiromi couldn't flee now, but . . .

Leif uncrossed the blades and held them out, "_Uln'nau_!" He shouted, and the two dragons were froen in place. He should never have been able to do so, and yet it worked, and he knew it was because of the swords. What a fool he'd been not to take up _Wraith Conjurer_ . . . wait why had he swore not to take it up again? He'd had a reason, he was sure of it!

_It can't have been a good one._ He said. Or _Wraith _said, he wasn't sure which it was. "_Quelden, Queldan, Leimahdu_--" Leif began the spell to summon a Ghost Circle.

* * *

Thorn's eyes widened when she sensed the power resonating from just outside the castle! 

She placed two fingers between her eyes and closed them, "seeing" what the fuss was about.

"Oh my gosh!" She gasped.

"What is it?" Violet demanded, the queen and her guard had fought their way to Thron's side shortly after the battle reintensified. Something at the rear was making the rat creatures nervous, and now Thorn felt she knew what.

The rats wanted to get out of the castle, because soon, she was certain, it would be consumed by a Ghost Circle.

There was not so much living energy left in this castle as to resist it, Thorn cut through two rat creatures with one blow, "We have to get to the castor! The rat creatures are summoning a Ghost Circle!" She screamed.

"The rat creatures? But how could they—LEIF!" Violet screamed, "I will _kill_ him!"

"I'll help!" Thorn scoffed as the two queens cut their way through the impossibly thick lines of rat creatures towards the open gate.

The rat creatures were in a frenzy now, it made Thorn feel powerful at first but too quickly she realized the truth, not even she could scare them like this.

It was the great gray dragon that was slowly pulling herself up onto the wall. She was missing a hand, but to Thorn nothing had ever looked more beautiful. Thor had told her that dragons would not get involved with the battle, but she was happy to see him proven wrong.

At first that is. At first she was happy, then the dragon lunged from the wall and landed right in front of her and Violet, crushing several rat creatures in the process! She raised her single claw as if in salute to the two queens.

Violet grabbed Thorn and threw her to the side, Thorn looked in confusion as the dragon's talon slammed into the ground where she had just been standing, "What in the—"

"There are traitors amongst the dragons," Violet explained quickly, "This is one of them!"

Thorn felt confused, but the gargotyles were not. They threw themselves at the threat to their home, and the dragon struggled to fight them off.

Heartened, the rat creatures threw themselves at the dragon as well, it was besset on every side!

Thorn put a hand on Violet's shoulder, "Come! We have to stop the caster!"

Violet nodded and followed Thorn as they rushed through the now clear gate and out into the bloody killing fields.

The stench of fear hit Thorn immediately, the power of death that had come over this place, it was almost a wonder a ghost circle did not form by itself!

* * *

_Give in_! _Give in to the Mist_! The voice in Leif's head urged. 

Somehow Leif felt that that was not such a good idea . . .

_Don't listen_! _Don't let them control you_!

Whose voice was that?

Was that _his_ voice?

It sounded so far away . . .

Leif closed his eyes, but it did no good. He was so used to seeing without them that it did nothing to hide the world from him.

He could still "see" the flames closing in around him, still "see" the two dragons frozen in place by his heavily ampliphied spell, he felt their fear, and it made the circle even more powerful, he could almost "see" the Lord of Locusts!

Suddenly he felt something grab onto him!

Something took his right wrist, something took his left!

The Veni-Yan warriors, they had not abandoned their headmaster, but they were now foolishly trying to stop him from saving the kingdom.

They'd just have to die.

Wait, what? What?

Oh yes, die, well okay, that seemed fair. The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few after all.

Leif opened his eyes and was about to use the power of the swords to kill the two warriors holding his wrists.

But it was there that the voice that had seemed so far away suddenly became a loud and powerful scream in his head, _Drop the swords_!

Leif shook, his hands shook, the swords trembled.

He felt the strong grip of the warrior whose arms were around his middle, something was unusal about this one. Unconciously he looked down and saw not the glove of a Veni-Yan warrior, but the bracer of a samurai.

He heard her voice in his ear, "Drop the sword! Drop the sword!"

The swords fell from his hands, and he fell to the ground.

Hiromi was ontop of him, holding him tightly, the soldiers that had held his wrists fell down, and the shoved the swords away from his reach, but it didn't matter, he couldn't bring himself to touch _Wraith_ again, it was an evil thing.

And _he_ had corrupted _Shadow._

"It's okay," Hiromi whispered, "It's okay."

She spoke to him as if he were some helpless scared child! He was ashamed as it was, he didn't need her pitying him to boot!

Hiromi remained pinning him down with her body, but one of her hands shot forward towards the dragons, "_Visquis_!" She shouted, and the fire that filled the fields came to life at her command, forming itself into a massive snake!

The deadly serpent coiled up and sprang for the silver dragon, but not the black.

The serpent wrapped itself around the dragon, who was not burned.

But the serpent held it tight, and began to wrap itself tightly around the dragon.

It struck, bitting the dragon's chest forcing a roar from the beast! The serpent struck again, and again, Hiromi's serpent sank it's fangs into its flesh again and again, never breaking those hard scales, but none the less the dragon roared in agony until finally Hiromi's hand fell and the snake simply disappeared.

Leif tore his hands free from the two guards that pinned them, and rolled over so that Hiromi lay on the burnt grass next to him.

He looked her over, she was bleeding profusely from a wound on the side of her head, her cloths were a little singed, but somehow she was still breathing, she was alive!

The silver dragon rored threateningly at them, but the black just growled at it in turn and it backed down. The dragons seemed to have a brief staring contest, or perhaps a telepathic conversation, Leif didn't care. The important thing was that they turned, and shrinking to their human guises disappeared into the forest.

The black dragon stopped and looked back at them, he grinned and shouted, "When she wakes, Bookworm, tell her she's _earned_ this!"

The dragon, disguised as a human in a hood threw Leif a scroll case, which he caught easily enough.

The rat creatures continued to flee all about them, Leif now saw two women rushing towards him.

One was Violet, and the other was . . . no, it couldn't possibly be his mother. She was far too young, but there was a resemblance. As she came closer he became more and more certain that her identy was on the tip of his tongue.

But the only thing that came out of his mouth when Violet and the familiar stranger reached him was his breath for Violet kicked him hard in the chest.

"Fool! How dare you try to summon a Ghost Circle on _my_ castle!"

Had he? He could have sworn the circle was only meant to cover the dragons . . .

Had he really been summoning a circle large enough to cover the entire castle? It was hard to tell what he had and had not been doing.

Violet's boot was suddenly on his neck and she held him down. Leif didn't bother to fight back, he deserved this, worthless, selfish fool that he was. She snapped at the four Veni-Yan soldiers, "You two, apprehend our _former_ Headmaster and lock him up! You two take my Marshal of the Armies to the infirmiry!"

Leif allowed the soldiers to take him without a struggle, though he noted that if he had wanted to break free it would have been all too easy, the soldiers were being extremely gentle with him.

_She will not kill us. She is too weak. She does more to further my goals than she knows._ Leif thought to himself . . . or did he?

Since when had he begun to refer to himself as if he were more than one person?

* * *

Thorn looked at the two swords lying on the ground, Violet snatched up the one with the black blade. "My brother's sword. I never felt comfortable with my fool of a cousin wielding it, even if it did compliment his control of the shadows." 

Thorn would have to ask about that later, in her time Veni-Yan Kari had been unable to actually kill or physically injure with the dreaming, yet that fiery serpent that she assumed the Headmaster had summoned had done exactly that, and to a dragon.

Thorn glared instead at the sword lying in the grass. It was like a scimitar with it's blade backwards, she recognized the blade, and yet she'd never seen it before.

"My lady, be careful with that sword. It's a powerful instrument of The Dreaming, and with it our Headmaster almost summoned a Ghost Circle." One of the Veni-Yan soldiers told her.

Thorn looked at it with her eyes, then looked at it with her eyes closed, she turned back to the soldier, "This sword is just a sword, if there was ever any magic in the blade it's gone now."

This only served to confuse the soldier as he carefully set about moving his Marshal to the infirmary.

Gargoyles, recruited commoners and Veni-Yan soldiers rushed over to Thorn and Violet, the two Queens looked at their people.

Violet smiled and said, "Once again, Castle Thorn is saved! The Rat Creatures will _never_ conquer our spirits!" She shouted to her people.

And they cheered.

Thorn however held the reverse scimitar and felt nothing. No surge of fear or power, it was just a normal if somewhat unusually shaped sword.

Violet turned to her, "I do not know who you are sister, but your timing was keen. Come with me to the palace, and we will talk about where you come from, and your connection to the dragons!"

Thorn straightened up and said, "Yeah, okay. I'll tell you what I know about the dragons, and as for my name, I'm Thorn Harvestar."

Violet's eyes narrowed for the briefest of seconds, then she smiled a ridiculously false smile and bowed in an almost mocking fashion, "Well in that case, all ye peoples, hail my great grandmother, Queen Thorn of Atheia!"

The people did just that, they cheered for Thorn, they really went wild with excitement, though the Gargoyles just seemed confused by it.

Thorn however tilted her head to the side and thought, _Great grandmother? Has it really been that long?_

**To Be Continued . . .**

* * *

**A/N:** Ah, the Ghost Circles. For those not in the know, Ghost Circles are powerful bubble of fear and darkness, something like a window into the world of the Lord of Locusts, the main villain from BONE. If he won the war, all of Ahteia would be covered in Ghost Circles. I wont give too much more about BONE away though. 

This is the end of the first ACT, or if this were a novel, Book. Now comes ACT/Book II and III, the first chapter of ACT 2 explains Thorns awakening (not resurrection) and allows Goliath a chance to settle into Atheia, though the chapter sort of ended up focusing on Elisa . . . I really don't know how that happened, but never mind, hope you enjoyed ACT One, and I hope you'll keep reading on into ACT Two, which has the Bone Cousins (and Bartleby), introduces Odin, involves the second and final fall of Castle Thorn and many other things.


	21. Act Two: Eyes that See

**Act Two  
****Part One  
****The Eyes that See . . .**

_The Past . . ._

Thorn smiled up at Grandma Ben, "H'llo Gram!" She called, and the old woman smiled back and picked up the pace of her walk. Hard to believe that such an old woman raced cows—and won—every year.

"Oh h'llo Thorn!" The old woman said, wrapping her arms around her grand daughter and hugging her tightly, "But y'know now that you're Queen of the Valley you'll have t'watch that country tongue of yours." Grandma Ben said.

"What about you?" Thorn asked.

"Oh hen feathers, I'm through bein' queen I can talk however I want." Grandma Ben said, "It's your job now."

The two women exchanged serious nods, and then broke out laughing.

"So what is it you wanted t'show me?" Grandma Ben asked.

Thorn smiled and said, "Can't you see it Gran'ma? You said that every queen of Atheia makes a contribution to the kingdom."

"That's right." Grandma Ben nodded. "Mine was the walls. I built the walls all around the kingdom."

"Right," Thorn said, "Well let me show you mine!" Taking the older woman's hand Thorn eagerly led her through the bustling streets of the City of Atheia, towards the castle that was being rebuilt in and with her name.

It had been the Red Dragon's idea, not hers, but the people seemed to think it fitting so she reluctantly accepted the honor.

Thorn led Grandma Ben to a large building near the castle's second gate; they were greeted by Taneal, a young Atheian girl who was missing several teeth.

"Oh Queen Thorn!" Taneal said, "We've been waiting for you!"

Thorn smiled and led Grandma Ben into the large building.

Grandma Ben gasped when she saw the interior.

"Do you like it?" Thorn asked.

"You could fit a _dragon_ in here!" Grandma Ben said in awe.

"Well . . . yes," Thon said, feeling her grandmother was missing the actual point, "Look at it though! Look at what is inside!" Thorn spread her arms wide, indicating the many, many—

"Empty shelves?" Grandma Ben asked.

Thorn shrank an inch or two, "Uh . . . yes. Empty shelves now, but soon enough this will be the Library of Atheia! We are gathering together books now, making copies of books lent to us by kind citizens, creating an archive of all Atheia's history, and its fantasies as well, the first Library not made for just a Headmaster and his Veni-Yan disciples, but built for all the people of Atheia!"

"It _is_ something." Grandma Ben said, and Thorn was relieved to hear the tone of approval in her voice. "What's that?"

"It's _my _latest work of art!" Taneal, an expert sculptor said. Thorn blushed at the statue of herself. It depicted Thorn as the country girl she used to be, wearing her good old green cloak, in her hand was the true and real sword that had once belonged to Grandma Ben. The wars were over, Thorn wouldn't need it anymore. The only inaccuracy was the Harvestar Family Crest around Thorn's neck, for in those days she had rejected her heritage and disbelieved that _she_ might be queen.

But Thorn liked the statue because it reminded her of the girl she used to be, and incidentally reminded her of the friends she made as that dusky skinned farm girl.

"I see you do have some books too, it's a grand start to what should be a grand library." Grandma Ben said.

Thorn nodded, "Yes . . . I wish we could have found just one copy of _Moby Dick_ though . . ."

Grandma Ben nodded, understanding that Thorn had never really done anything more than built a tolerance for the book, it was its reader that she truly missed.

Fone Bone and his cousins. Thorn could still remember the time that Phoney had gotten Smiley Bone to serenade the chickens in an attempt to get eggs, remembered how Fone Bone's head had caught fire the first time they met . . . actually that had been a bit scary.

It was while she was caught up in those memories that a great silver dragon gently tapped her on the shoulder with one of his large talons. "Little queen?" The dragon that would one day be known as Baldur said, "The headmaster and I worked very hard to acquire this book."

Thorn gazed at the book, and to her astonishment it was in fact _Moby Dick_!

Eagerly she opened the book to its first page, expecting the line that Fone Bone had read to her over and over (and over and over) again!

_Rendith Dra Peoss, Rokkum Flesum, Flesum Rokkum . . ._

Thorn's head began to hurt, and she dropped the book.

She felt her legs give out from underneath her and she fell into the dragon's arms. "Are you all right, little queen?" The silver dragon asked, an odd gleam in his eyes.

"Oh . . . yes, I . . ." She looked at her statue, somehow it seemed smoother, less like a stone statue and more . . . like flesh. "I . . . fell strange." Thorn admitted.

"Perhaps you are . . . overextending yourself." The dragon offered.

"Yes . . . that is exactly how I feel." Thorn said to herself.

"C'mere dear, I'll help you to your room." Grandma Ben said. Queen Thorn Harvestar complied. Looking over her shoulder, she said to the dragon, "I don't know what language that's in, but we'll have to find someone who can translate it."

The dragon smiled benevolently, "Of course! As you desire Little Queen . . ."

* * *

_The Present . . ._

Thor walked cautiously into the lair.

His father, Odin was sitting cross legged in the very center of the massive chamber where the four dragons would meet to discuss whatever matters needed discussion. Rarely had all four been together there for some time, and Odin sat there now, alone.

He looked up at Thor though milky white eyes, though they were not blind.

Odin saw more than Thor could, more perhaps than Thor ever would.

"There is a tremor in The Dreaming . . ." Odin said softly.

"Is there?" Thor asked.

"Many lives have ended tonight."

Thor shuddered, "Another battle?"

"Yes . . . exactly that. But you know my son. You were there."

"Oh father, surely you do not believe—"

"You were there for the greater duration, it ended shortly after you departed. Fear is thick in the air, and a Ghost Circle was nearly summoned."

"A Ghost Circle?" Thor asked. "What of Loki? Is he all right?"

"Yes. As all right as it is possible to be, your twin is, as ever walking a dangerous line."

"A dangerous line? Between what?"

Odin smiled, "Enough about Loki."

"But he—"

"Will be here shortly, and he will likely make up some feeble story to explain his absence, just as you meant to do."

"But I—oh . . . oh very well." Thor sighed.

"I desire the truth, Thor. Tell me how you did it." Odin said.

Thor shifted uneasily and reverted back to his human form, "Very well father . . . if you must know . . ."

* * *

_Hours Ago . . ._

Thor watched the Veni-Yan warriors and civilians alike fighting for their lives.

He remembered the legends he'd been told, those he'd read, when dragons and the Veni-Yan fought side by side.

Never again, his father had said. The night that the dragons finally abandoned Atheia both dragons and humans suffered tremendous losses.

But Thor couldn't help but think that if the dragons had stayed the course, had not turned their backs on what they considered to be lesser beings perhaps the humans would not have been turned to stone, perhaps none of this would have ever happened. Perhaps the rat creatures would not now be overwhelming everything.

There was nothing Thor could do. Technically he could wade into the battle, flame and talon, ripping rending, burning and blazing through the rat creature ranks, but what would that really accomplish?

He would be responsible for dozens, if not a hundred deaths before his own came about, and yet it would not have swayed the battle.

He heard screams, he heard pleas, he took a deep breath, he could not change the course of the war personally, could not fight or it would break the laws of the council.

But he could give the Veni-Yan one warrior who could fight, could make a difference, and could change the course of the war perhaps.

He walked into the old library, to the center of the great building.

The shelves were in disrepair, many books lay in piles or stacks on the ground, Thor ignored them all.

He approached the statue of Thorn in the center of the library. This one was so like the one in the courtyard, seemed so lifelike, seemed even to breathe.

There was a powerful dreaming energy in this statue, and Thor had a guess why.

He began to cast his spell, relying on his dragon blood to give him the magic he needed. He needed no words, for dragons, unlike humans are so in tune with the dreaming that words are not needed for their spells.

The statue's eyes blinked.

Thor continued casting. The sword, he had guessed truly was a legendary blade.

It had to be there as a marker, not just coincidence. This statue was no statue, it was a golem. A heartless and indestructible creature of stone, the perfect war machine for the destruction of the rats.

He continued to cast his spell, but something went wrong.

At least he assumed it did. He was casting a spell of awakening, and the golem _was_ awakening. But it was beginning to breathe, was that normal? No, Thor did not believe it was.

The golem moved slowly, stiffly. That was to be expected, it was made of stone after all. But suddenly it began to crack and shatter, Thor was terrified!

He'd made a major mistake, he'd ruined everything, the golem was flawed, it would break, it would be destroyed!

It shattered and the stone fragments fell to the ground. In their place was flesh, blood, bone, a beautiful young human woman was standing and looking around blankly. "Gran'ma Ben?" She whispered. "Oh my gosh!"

Thor—who was in his true body—feared that his presence might frighten the creature, but he could not help but peer closer. What was this? How was it?

She was dressed in dark brown traveling cloths and wore worn old pair of boots. She had a forest green cloak over her shoulders, held the sword in her hand and looked around the library in confusion. "What's happened?"

"This place, "Thor said gravely, "Has been abandoned for over a year now. And before that it was abandoned for well over two hundred."

"Th-that's silly, I was just standing here with my Grand mother, we—" The former statue gasped as she looked down at her clothing, "My cloths? How did I get dressed like this?" An annoyed look came over her face, "_Who_ dressed me like this? What's your game dragon?"

The dragon shook his head, "I do not know any more than you about what you are and how you came about, but I do know who you are and why you are here."

"Speak then."

Thor nodded, "You are Queen Thorn Harvestar—"

"Yes, I know." Thorn said, "Why am I here?"

The dragon was taken aback. So the creature believed it was Thorn? Well perhaps it was, how was he to know? This was definitely no ordinary golem. "Very well then," he said, deciding to speak to it as if it—sorry, _she_ really was Thorn. "In that case your majesty it has been almost three hundred years since your reign, your children have all passed on due either to age or war."

"There was another war?" Thorn gasped, then added, "I had children?" This seemed even more shocking too her. "How many? What are—uh _were_ they like?" Thorn asked.

"No time, and it doesn't matter anyway, they're dead. Your grand children will be too if you do not fight to protect them."

"R-right!" The young queen said. "Protect them from what?"

Thor frowned, he shoved some rubble aside, revealing a secret door. "This door will lead to you throne room, come with me and I will explain everything on the way."

"Very well dragon . . . but . . . where is the Great Red Dragon? Does he still live?"

"I . . . have never met him." Thor said. "Nor will dragons aid you in this battle, they swore two hundred years ago to never again interfere in human affairs, the fall of Atheia they consider to be a human affair."

"What are you doing then?" Thorn asked.

Thor smiled sheepishly, "I'm letting you interfere in human affairs."

"Ah." Thorn said, nodding in understanding. "So what's the situation then?"

"The castle is on the verge of falling, I am taking you to the throne room where, unless I am mistaken, your grand daughter Violet should be there."

"Grand daughter . . ." Thorn whispered. "I . . . I don't even know who her grand_father _is!" the young woman said.

"That's really not important, what is important is the fact that Atheia is in ruins, the capital city is under siege, the city itself has been reduced to a ruin and the castle's defenders are so few in number that they can barely man the walls, at this very moment the entire castle is surrounded by several thousand rat creatures."

"Rat creatures?" Thorn gasped, "But they—"

"Are being led by a group of Hooded Ones now, or so I've heard spoken among the human soldiers. They believe the Hooded Ones to be rogue Veni-Yan monks, or dream masters, though they have yet to cast any powerful magics."

Thorn was very quiet as they walked through the narrow secret passage, Thor disliked it, and he could barely fit. "You are not without allies, after your . . .uh . . ."

"Death?" Thorn offered.

"Well . . . yes. After your death and after Atheia's fall gargoyles were brought to this world . . . somehow."

"Atheia's fall?"

Thor shuddered and gave her the rapid fire explanation of things that had happened during and after the fall of Atheia, leading up to what he knew of the Awakening, and the events leading up to this battle, she absorbed it rather well.

"So the rat creatures want to destroy the entire kingdom?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Thorn asked.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Why?" She repeated. "If we're confined to this single castle, what need do they have to wipe us out?"

"Hatred is the only excuse they have, and seem to need." Thor said, not admitting that he'd never really thought about _why_ the rats would need to keep attacking when they had all the territory they could want, and then some!

The rat creatures were not a warlike people, their warriors tended to back down from any fight that did not favor them in numbers . . . it had to be the hooded ones, but why would they want to see their fellow humans annihilated?

They entered the empty throne room, Thorn looked around, "Where is everyone?" She asked.

Thor frowned, "I do not know . . . follow me, we will stand at the top of the castle with your gargoyle allies and see. It will be sunset in just a few more minutes, the gargoyles will soon be waking, I hope it is not too late."

"Will you fight, dragon?" Thorn asked.

"No." Thor said, feeling like a coward. "I cannot."

Thorn patted his shoulder—he was still a dragon so she had to reach up to do so, "It's okay, I understand your dragon law is very important. You're sticking your neck out just bringing me here to fight . . . though I do wish I could remember the rest of my life."

"Perhaps," Thor said, "You do not need to. Perhaps all you need in order to find victory is what you are now."

Thorn shrugged, "Perhaps." Her countenance suddenly changed, she became serious ad stern, "but for now it's time to save my people . . . again."

* * *

_Present . . ._

Thor lowered his head, finishing the tale with the relation of how Thorn had indeed joined the battle, though he did not know how it had ended.

Odin nodded slowly. "My son." He said simply.

Thor waited a moment, and when it seemed his father would say nothing further, he asked, "What will you do?"

"Nothing. For now. I will watch, and decide . . ."

"What of Loki?" Thor asked.

Odin smiled weakly, "Your brother? He has made his decision. It will lead him to his doom sooner or later, but he has chosen to follow his heart and I cannot grudge him that."

Thor wrongly assumed that Odin meant Loki's attraction to the human woman. He said, "It is only a passing thing."

Odin's white eyes shimmered, "Is it really? But then so is life."

* * *

Goliath shook his head, "This place . . . it is so like my home, and yet so unlike it." 

Elisa smiled, Goliath had spent the first few hours of the night after the battle helping to clear away the dead, and there were a surprising few. Of course with so few people at all Elisa supposed the thee or four dozen dead and wounded had been a devastating blow to the Atheians. At lest, that seemed to be the general opinion.

But once the dead bodies were buried, and the wounded cared for Goliath had gone about trying to memorize everyone's name, every Gargoyle he came into contact with he would eagerly greet, he was like a kid in a candy store, he couldn't meet other gargoyles fast enough!

He was eager to meet humans too, he'd eagerly shaken hands with the queens and several of the hooded soldiers.

Goliath had taken an immediate shine to a Gargoyle called Stoneskin who was almost as large and muscular as Goliath was. Elisa didn't want to see the two of them arm wrestle, even though her money would be on Goliath she wasn't sure there was a table in all of Atheia that'd survive the match.

Other gargoyles had seemed just as interested in Goliath, they referred to him as "King Goliath of the Manhattan Clan" whenever they had the time for it, or simply "King Goliath" when they didn't.

Brooklyn had said it was just the way things worked here. Hudson assured them that they'd understand it all soon enough.

Elisa was happy for Goliath, she knew his joy was not so much at seeing other Gargoyles—though that was a contributing factor of course—what made the big guy so happy was that his entire clan was with him to meet these new gargoyles.

Lexington and Brooklyn had become celebrities now, as it turned out there were no gargoyle beasts like Bronx in the castle, females would go on and on about how adorable Bronx was, which seemed to make Brooklyn pretty happy.

Angela and Broadway were being given the tour by a dashing white gargoyle named Alabaster, who didn't seem at all shy about telling Angela that she was as beautiful as the moonrise.

Goliath and Elisa were receiving the tour from Hudson, who was talking to Goliath about things he'd learned about their cousins. "It's not hard t'see there's strife between the clans," Hudson was saying, "Their knowledge of the Gargoyle Way is lacking in some respects as well, and I'm not just talking about the fact that they name themselves and lay claim to their own children."

"Yes," Goliath said, "But we shall tech them, if they are willing to learn."

"Aye lad, but I'm for wondering how much time we'll have t'do it in, repairing the gate in a single day doesn't seem possible." Hudson said.

Goliath nodded, "Yes . . . but we'll find a way. I didn't come all this way just to see our brothers and the humans that protect them during the day slaughtered."

Hudson nodded.

Elisa held onto Goliath's arm, "Is it what you expected?" She asked.

Goliath patted her hand gently, "It is more than I ever thought possible! It has been a long time since I've seen so many Gargoyles and humans living together so closely, and with no prejudice lost between them!"

"Yes . . ." Elisa nodded. That seemed sort of unusual to her at first and she half expected to see some kind of evidence of racism among the humans, knowing mankind to be shamefully bad at accepting things that were different from themselves.

But she supposed day after day and night after night of trusting one side to protect you and then protecting them in turn had woven a close community. The fact that she could hold on to Goliath's arm without attracting a single sideways glance was really quite pleasant.

People _were _watching them, but with curiosity and all of them seemed happy to see Goliath, time and again Elisa heard both humans and Gargoyles alike say "Hail Great King!" as they passed him by.

Goliath was not only accepted here without prejudice, but hailed as a king!

Elisa saw another Gargoyle, a massive one who was also hailed as king come up to Goliath. "I King Grund, as you know." The fat gargoyle said.

Goliath nodded, "I am Goliath."

"Grund knows." Grund said darkly. "I come special offer for you, we speak together . . . bring advisors if need."

Goliath nodded slowly, "Of course . . . what is it you want to speak to me about?"

Grund did not say. Goliath looked to Elisa, "Coming?"

Elisa did not like the look of Grund. It was not that he was morbidly obese, it was the fact that her cop senses were working over time telling her this guy was no good. She nodded to Goliath, but Hudson shook his head.

"I'll leave ye to it lad, I know where the comfortable chairs are, and I'll be getting about the business of resting these old bones after a battle like that."

Goliath nodded and Elisa followed him and Grund down the corridor.

"Goliath great warrior, Grund see, Grund respect."

"Thank you." Goliath said, though he sounded unsure. "You must all be great warriors as well to survive so long against such a horde."

"Grund not great warrior. Grund not good warrior." King Grund said darkly. "Grund okay warrior. Grund passable warrior. Grund good enough survive. King Goliath great warrior, be greater with River Gear."

"River gear?" Elisa said.

"Grund trade. Give Goliath sword, shield and armor of River Clan."

"IN exchange for what?" Goliath asked.

"Small thing only, cousin." Grund said darkly, "Small matter of Stone Skin, Canyon clan hero . . ."

**To Be Continued . . .**

**A/N: **There wasn't much gargoyle focus in the final chapter because it was the first Thorn chapter, and I wanted to introduce the Lord of Locusts. The new chapter focus order is Lex, Brook, Angela (scripted to be Goliath but I just got too used to writing Angela) Locusts (sometimes he will actually be skipped though, keep him mysterious),and Thorn. This chapter here was originally a Lexington chapter however after adding the Thorn elements to it, ran for about twelve pages so I cut it short and focused on the Goliath sequence instead, though it was really sort of Elisa, I didn't plan it that way . . . whatever.

Made the next chapter largely Lexington, which is as it should be . . . because it's what the people want, Loads of Lex! (Jedi Mind Trick: You now like Lexington more than any other character . . . oh, and these aren't the droids you're looking for . . .)As for Violet being a . . . whatever you tried to say, I cant tell you, that's secret. I will say she has a lot of stress in her life, maybe it causes her to be short with others? Or maybe she is just a . . . whatever.

Ah Act Two. The conspiracy, the final fall, the Lord of Locusts, and of course the triumphant (kind of) return of the Bone Cousins and their Rat Creature friend Bartleby, I cant wait to post more chapters!


	22. Well Earned Rest

**Part Two  
****Well Earned Rest . . .**

Lexington gave Bronx an affectionate pat on the head. It seemed like it'd been months since they'd seen each other, instead of just a day, but then a lot had happened in just one day.

Once both the literal, and proverbial smoke cleared it was obvious that the gates were beyond repair, at least beyond repair in a single night. Now human and gargoyle craftsmen were working tirelessly to rebuild them while members of the Veni-Yan warrior caste stood guard around the castle.

The marshal was in the infirmary and the headmaster was nowhere to be found, rumor had it that he'd been locked up in the dungeons, but Lexington doubted that.

Because they were not members of any clan, the Manhattan gargoyles were not expected to patrol with Dark Eyes and Alabastor, had not been asked to stand guard near the gates with Danica and Devi, had really been left at liberty by Queen Violet, who seemed far too busy dealing with the young girl who'd shown up from out of nowhere during the battle for the castle.

Lexington wasn't sure what was going on, and for some reason it didn't seem important. The clan was together again, in its entirety!

Angela and Broadway had to be introduced to Goldenrose, Tigris and Braids, three of the quintet of attractive single females that had been introduced to Lexington and Brooklyn just a night ago.

Goldenrose seemed very taken with Bronx, and for some reason that made Lexington appreciate his presence all the more. It bothered him, he wasn't sure why. He would catch himself glancing at this female he'd only met a day ago, watching her, and he wasn't sure what was going through his mind as he did because it tended to go blank.

What was it about her? Why did his eyes keep coming back to her? He wasn't sure.

What did he want from her? Why couldn't he leave her alone and focus on something else? Again, he wasn't sure.

"You know," Rose said after it became apparent that Bronx was getting tired of so many people taking such an interest in him, "We've never seen a being like him before. It is unusual, the humans have their companions, dogs they call them. But he is not a dog at all, he is far too clever to even be compared. Were his kind common in Manhattan?"

"Not really." Lexington admitted, placing his hand on the hilt of his dagger. Slowly he began to feel the intricate carvings along the handle, his focus however remained on Rose, who swept away some stray strands of hair from her right eye.

"You know I never did thank _you_ for protecting me." She said, "I am sorry . . . no, ashamed. Can you accept my apology and appology?" The beautiful female asked.

Lexington shrugged, "Sure. I-it's no big deal. But uh . . . why did you follow me?"

Rose shrugged back. "I do not know. It is my duty, as well as that of any other non-warrior to protect the humans in the shelter building. If all else fails we are all that stand between the rat creatures and complete victory. But I abandoned my post to follow you."

"Yes . . . why?" Lexington asked.

"I just told you . . . I do not know. I suppose I was reluctant to see you come to harm, one so young as you I thought, ought not to be on the battle field."

"I'm not _that_ young, I've been a warrior for a long time." Lexington said in his own defense.

"That was obvious. Once I saw you wield that dagger I felt foolish for having doubted you." Rose said, looking a little embarrassed.

"Y-yeah . . . I mean no!" Lexington said, "I mean . . . well I mean you showed up just in time, who knows what that weird Hooded One was turning herself into?"

"I do." Brooklyn said to himself in a low voice. Lexington heard him, but it seemed no one else did.

Lexington frowned, he'd kind of forgotten that Brooklyn and the others were nearby . . . he'd been too focused on Rose.

Rose . . . maybe he should begin to avoid her, she was a distraction.

A pleasant distraction, but a distraction still . . . being distracted in battle could mean death.

_Of course Broadway and Angela have been in battles, and I'm clearly distracting her too. I'll bet she never followed _Alabaster _onto the battlefield._ Lexington thought to himself, and he felt a strange satisfaction because of it.

"You are a clever mind and a great warrior," Rose said, breaking the silence that Lexington realized had lasted between the two of them for several moments. "More than that, you seem honorable. Please come with me." The female said, and without questioning her or even looking back at Brooklyn and Bronx he followed her.

"H-hey Lex, where're you going?" Brooklyn blinked.

"I'll uh, I'll be right back!" Lexington said.

* * *

Lexington followed Goldenrose quietly down one of the halls of the castle, Lexington had never seen this place before, but that wasn't saying much. The flow of gargoyles slowed to a near stop, though human traffic was normal. 

Goldenrose looked around and then, grabbing Lexington's wrist suddenly shoved him face first into the wall!

But he didn't hit it, didn't break his bones, just went through it!

He found himself standing in an odd little room, much of its furniture was on the ceiling. There was an odd shaped couch in one of the room's corners, a book lay upon it opened, its reader's last pagemakred. There were no windows, no doors, just an unusual room of cold stone.

Rose came through the wall next, Lexington blinked at her, "What is this place?"

"This place?" Rose asked, spreading her arms about, indicating the room and Lexington nodded, "This place is a spiritual meditation chamber, completely invisible from the rest of the castle, no one can even see its door. I happen to know its location by heart however, I stumbled upon it when I was a child."

Lexington frowned, "Well what are we doing here?"

"I want to ask you some questions. Easy questions, but important ones." Goldenrose said. "First, how many battles have you seen?"

"Well . . ." Lexington tried to count in his head, "I don't know . . ."

"Ten? Twenty?"

"I cant say. More than twenty and fewer than forty?" He offered. He counted only battles with Viking hordes, the pack, steel clan robots, Talyn's clan, battles that had been battles, not the brawls where he and Brooklyn, or Broadway would apprehend some criminal who never stood a chance of really hurting them, but fights against deadly opponents.

"Through all those battles have you always used brute strength like most others do?"

"Well actually I'm more about speed." Lexington admitted. Where was she going with this?

"Would you say you're more intelligent than the other members of your clan?" Rose asked bluntly, Lexington frowned.

Well gee, the others weren't stupid but . . . "Well the others are pretty clever, I mean—"

"Clearly you do," Rose said in a soft tone, "It is written all over your face."

"No it's nuh-hey, what's the point of this interrogation?" Lexington demanded.

Rose frowned and said "Have you ever fought with a dagger before?"

"Well no, not devotedly, swords and daggers are human weapons."

"But necessary for us." Goldenrose pointed out.

"Well yes, but I'd never seen a rat creature before coming here so I never needed to use a dagger before." Lexington said.

Rose nodded. "Yet you were quite proficient with it."

Lexington frowned, "What are you getting at?" He asked.

Rose smiled weakly at him, "I don't think you're a weapons master, dear Lexington."

Lexington wasn't sure whether he was angry at her for saying he wasn't a warrior, or pleased that she'd called him dear. "I've been in more battles than—"

"Never using a dagger before, tonight you fought as well—no _better_ than many of the humans who've trained since their childhood to use their swords. Your hand was a blur, there were times you struck so quickly that I could not even see your hand."

Lexington shifted uneasily, "What're you saying?"

Rose walked over to the couch and picked up the opened book. "Please understand that I am aware that you and your clan believe in some sort of Gargoyle way, I respect that. But do you know what I believe in? I believe in the dreaming. I believe that certain individuals, both human and gargoyles are more sensitive to it than others. And I _know_ that only a Veni-Yan Kari could have made that dagger anything more than a hunk of metal. Do you understand what I am telling you?" Rose asked.

"No." Lexington lied. He knew what she was getting at now, but he wanted her to say it, it would seem silly for him to do so. He believed in science, but he did believe in magic as well, it was a part of his life. But to believe he was capable of casting spells like the Headmaster's shadow wolf?

"Lexington, you're more intelligent than other gargoyles, you're faster and I am willing to bet that all things considered, stronger and hardier than you would normally be. It is not noticeable because where you come from there are no others of your size, the others are all larger than you." Rose held out the book to him, "Lexington I believe you _are_ a Veni-Yan Kari."

"That's not possible. I've never been to Atheia before, how could I—"

"Marshal Hiromi had never been to Atheia, she is not even remotely related to the Harvestar line, the bloodline that carries the greatest chance of yielding Karis. Yet she cast a spell that killed a thousand rat creatures and it did not so much as wind her."

Lexington's eyes widened, "A thousand?" He gasped. "Well why didn't she—"

"Never mind that, what is important is that you are a Veni-Yan Kari, Lexington." Rose said. "This book was given to me by the Headmaster when I told him that I wanted to learn to use the Dreaming. All it has helped me to do is control my dreams while I am having them, but you might just find more use to it. I will show you how to find this place so that you may practice in privacy and peace if you are willing to try."

"Why would you help me with this?" Lexington asked.

"Because if a Gargoyle could wield the dreaming, if a Gargoyle could aspire to the rank of headmaster, it would finally prove to Queen Violet that we Gargoyles are not animals." Goldenrose said.

"She thinks that?" Lexington blinked.

"She does not admit it, perhaps she does not realize it. But if you speak to her face to face as I have the unbelievable air of superiority and the very look of her eyes suggest that you're no more important to her than a pet of which she is relatively fond." Rose scowled and clenched her fists at her side. "Show her that we are thinking creatures Lexington, for the sake of the Atheian clans as well as your own, for the time we do have left to live show her that you too can dream."

Lexington nodded once, and felt as if the weight of the world had suddenly come upon him.

"Come with me," Rose said, "There is just one more thing I wish to give you."

* * *

And so it was that when Lexington found Brooklyn and the others again he held the headmaster's book in his hands, and wore a red and gold tunic of the Castle Clan, a sword belt he'd been given by King Matthias himself to hold his dagger as a thanks for protecting princess Goldenrose. 

Broadway let out an impressed whistle, "That's pretty slick Lex."

"Y-yeah . . . I guess it is." Lexington said, looking down at the tunic.

It was not uncomfortable, but it was very new. Very odd, somehow in the Castle Clan tunic Lexington just didn't feel like Lexington.

**To Be Continued . . .**

* * *

**A/N:** You may notice a slowly building addiction in Lexington to his dagger, he will begin to use it for things other than battle, and he will begin to wonder what it'd like, i.e. maybe he shouldn't polish it with a dirty rag since it wouldn't like that. Other things will happen, but I shan't spoil anything more. 

Brooklyn was once my favorite Gargoyle too, for a very long time in fact (about from the first episode I saw, which was episode 3 when it first aired until maybe six months before I started work on Not But a Dream I considered Brooklyn my favorite) however at some point, and quite by surprise I found myself more interested in Lexington, I don't actually know why though. I think in some ways Brooklyn is still my favorite, and in others Lexington is.


	23. Love Triangles

**Part Three  
****Love Triangles . . .**

Brooklyn shifted uneasily when he noticed Devi and Danica coming towards him, Devi winked and waved, Danica raised an eyebrow at her friend, and Devi whispered something into her ear.

Danica looked surprised, and gave Brooklyn a reluctant and unsure wave, Brooklyn just forced himself to smile weakly.

"Prince Brooklyn." A voice behind him said suddenly, he turned and saw the Canyon Queen standing there, as beautiful as she was when he first saw her, and as scantly clad as she was when he first saw her, she held a package in her hands.

"Uh queen . . ." Brooklyn frowned, he'd not caught her name.

She didn't seem to mind that he trailed off though, and said "I understand you borrowed a sword from one of my warriors. Dark Eyes it was?"

"Yes." Brooklyn said.

"It is not acceptable." The queen said firmly, "I will not have it. It is shameful that you, good prince were forced to borrow a sword, had Dark Eyes not lent you his blade disaster may have befallen you."

"Uh, really it was okay." Brooklyn said.

"No. It was not. I have brought you a gift, incidentally it too may not be appropriate, there is every possibility that it may be misinterpreted, however as you have no sword and no armor . . ." She trailed off and handed him the package.

Brooklyn opened it up to find a rather impressive tunic, like the ones Alabaster and Dark Eyes wore, of canyon clan fashion. It was black with silver trim, like Alabaster's, it had both shoulder and leg plating, and the plating seemed silver rather than steel. When Brooklyn held it up he could feel how light weight it was, though he'd expected it to be quite heavy, there were a pair of silver anklets in the package as well.

"This is amazing!" Brooklyn gasped.

The queen smiled benevolently, as queens tend to do, and said "You've not yet seen my second gift." She snapped her fingers and a tall green skinned gargoyle stepped forward. She had horns like Brooklyn's, and long black hair, she wore a canyon clan tunic that seemed more like a dress for it went down to her ankles, oversized sleeves made it look rather like a monk's robe and Brooklyn wondered if perhaps it was.

She seemed a bit older than the Queen, but was still rather attractive. "This is the mother of Dark Eyes and Alabaster, my good friend Akruda."

The disdainful look on Akruda's face suggested that wasn't true, at least not as far as she was concerned, but Brooklyn missed it, his eyes widening at the item Akruda held in her hands.

The older female smiled at Brooklyn and said, "I've spoken to Dark Eyes, and he says you fight well, I agree with our queen though many will not. This blade was always meant for you."

Brooklyn drew the sword she held from it's scabbard, it was light enough to hold in one hand, though it's hilt was large enough for him to use both. There were words carved into the blade, Brooklyn raised an eyebrow at them, finding he could not read them. "What does the blade say?"

"It says," The queen said, "Daemon's Flame" the sword you hold is the blade of my former mate, and our former king."

Akruda nodded, "His spirit is plain in your eyes, his enthusiasm for life and his belief that the wars could be brought to an end, his—"

"Akruda, you are going to have to stop." The queen said firmly.

"Oh! My apologies, I . . . forgot." The elder female said, bowing her head.

"I do not like to speak about Daemon," The queen explained, "It is . . . painful."

Brooklyn nodded, and understood just how great an honor this was. He was being given the sword of their king . . . a king that had apparently been a great gargoyle.

Akruda said, "Dark Eyes was the one to suggest it, he said that you held your sword as . . ."

"The king." The queen sighed, and shook her head, "Wear both the armor and the blade well, Prince Brooklyn, and do not allow this war to change your perspective for the worst. If Daemon had lived . . . he would have liked you, I think."

Brooklyn nodded somewhat dumbly, awestruck at the generosity of these gifts. The queen left but Akruda did not. She looked over her shoulder to see that the queen was gone and then said, "The clan will not question their queen, but Daemon assumed the role of leader to all gargoyles when we became united, he is a heroic figure to every clan. They will not approve of his sword being in your hands, and princess Danica may wonder why the sword went to you instead of her. This blade is a standard to us gargoyles, when you wield it you are holding a proverbial flag, you become an icon. It would not do for you to be slain, surviving a single battle is one thing, my sons were besides you and no rat creature has ever posed a threat to the two of them together. If you are to survive this war you must learn the ways of the warrior from my beloved. Stone Skin will teach you well, and when she recovers from her injuries the captain—or I should say the Marshal will show you more. Learn all that you can and you will bring honor to yourself and both our clans."

"I'll try." Brooklyn said.

"No. You will succeed, I have seen it." Akruda said, smiling mysteriously the dark green gargoyle withdrew and followed her queen.

Brooklyn shook his head in surprise, he quickly gathered up the new armor and sword and sought a place to get dressed.

* * *

A fully armed and armored Brooklyn was all too soon beset upon by Braids! She seemed to materialize from thin air, "Where did you go?" She asked, "I was petting Bronx one second, and when I looked back you were gone! And why are you dressed like that?" 

Brooklyn frowned, "The canyon clan decided to give me some actual armor."

"Armor? Nonsense." Braids scoffed, "That's just tough leather and plating, you want chain." She said, jingling the chain shirt she was wearing over her tunic. "It is beautiful though. I suppose if you like, and if it doesn't bother you, you could wear the chain beneath it, you'd be doubly safe."

Brooklyn shrugged, and Braids shook her head, "Never mind that for now, I wanted to tell you that I've been assigned the next guard patrol, I volunteered you."

"Oh . . . good." Brooklyn said unenthusiastically.

"Sound more pleased, we're to set off in an hour with Angelo and Steel Claw, those are the greatest warriors from the castle and jungle clans respectively, you'll be in the presence of greatness, a princess and two war heroes, others would give their wings just for the chance! And no rat would dare attack the four of us so you will not be in any great danger."

Brooklyn nodded, "Right, of course."

"Furthermore, I've been thinking and—" Braids began but there was a loud shout.

"Brat! Be here now!" A female shouted. She had pale yellow-green skin and long white hair, she wore revealing red clothing, and her wings—lined with gold—were wrapped around her.

"That's my mother, Faeryl." Braids explained, "I'd best go. But I will see you in an hour, on that battlement," she said, pointing to a tower over which four other gargoyles were setting off for their patrol.

Brooklyn nodded.

He placed a hand on the hilt of Daemon's sword, and thought for a moment.

How odd, two great heroes a princess and himself on patrol together, he would think himself unworthy but holding this sword somehow he felt, while still unworthy he'd best start working to remedy that.

Yes patrol was a good start, but he'd also have to find Stoneskin and learn fighting from him. He looked towards the ruined gate, how would it ever be repaired in time?

He wondered about the queen, he'd heard she'd summoned a whirlwind and a rock monster during the battle, couldn't she use her powers to raise the rocks up out of the ground and block the gate itself? Perhaps even reinforce the walls?

"I see they've given you appropriate clothing. And a weapon." A voice behind him said, Brooklyn spun about and saw Danica standing there.

She was beautiful—save for the scar on the side of her face—and she looked deadly. Her hand was on the hilt of her sword as she slowly approached him. "That sword you hold belonged to my father, and I should have been the one to inherit it."

"I didn't ask for it!" Brooklyn said defensively.

Danica held out a hand, but not to collect the sword, she held her hand out to stop him from speaking, "I _should_ have inherited it. But if there is any in our clan who can wield that blade without falling into my father's shadow, it is certainly not I.

"I wanted only to tell you, prince Brooklyn that the blade you hold is not magical. It belonged to a gargoyle who made it seem powerful, and before him it belonged to a human whom time has forgotten. The sword has no spell to empower or protect its wielder, it is only a sword.

"It will only be as good or as poor as the hand that wields it, its accomplishments will be as good, or evil as you make them." Danica went on, "You will live in the shadow of my father at first, and at first people will believe that sword magical, may believe you to be his avenger summoned up from beyond his grave, I want you to promise me that you will remember that you are not."

Brooklyn shrugged, "Why would I think I'm king Daemon's avenger when I never met him?"

Danica frowned, "You have never seen my father." She said softly. She reached behind her back and producd a strange cylinder, Brooklyn recognized it as a scroll.

She unrolled it and handed it to Brooklyn, "I thought . . . you should see this."

Brooklyn blinked when he looked at the scroll. It depicted a slightly younger, unscarred Danica holding a wooden sword proudly while a female Brooklyn guessed to be her mother stood behind her with a talon on her shoulder, the female looked rather like Danica but her coloring was different, and her wings were like a bat's, her hair was long and red, instead of Danica's raven black.

But what really cought Brooklyn's eye was the male that stood in the picture, hand resting on the sword of Daemon, the blade's edge buried ever so slightly in the ground, he was Brooklyn.

That is he looked a lot like an older, somewhat brawnier version of Brooklyn with long black hair instead of his own flowing white mane, the skin color, the beak, everything else was the same, even the armor was similar.

Brooklyn dropped the scroll, but Danica caught it quickly. "I did not believe my eyes when I saw you, prince Brooklyn. I thought Dark Eyes was playing a cruel joke."

"He looks—" Brooklyn began, and Danica smiled a pleasant, warm smile.

It almost made him think she'd turned into an entirely different gargoyle, no longer cold and aloof she seemed pleasant when she said, "Like you? Yes. That, I believe is why they gave you that sword. Perhaps they wish for you to be the avenger of his blood, perhaps they wish for you to find his murderer and slay them, and perhaps they wish for the rat creatures to believe that my father, king of the canyon clan was never truly slain."

Danica returned to her customary dark expression, "But I don't want you to become their silly banner, even if we do need one. I don't want you to die because you think yourself a legend, my father was not legendary, he only did his best. In the end, he died, nothing immortal or legendary about him. If I allow you to keep that sword, I will expect you to swear to me that you will do your best as well."

Brooklyn took a moment to get over the daze, a gargoyle who looked _almost_ identical to him? But he nodded and said "Yeah . . . I'll do my best to bring honor to this sword."

Danica frowned, "Didn't you hear what I said? That sword is nothing but a sword, and honor means nothing if you're dead. Use the sword to kill your enemies and survive, use the blade to preserve your life and the lives of as many others as you can."

Brooklyn nodded, Danica's words reminding him of something the Headmaster had once said. He forced a smile at Danica and said "I will."

Danica nodded back, she looked as if she wanted to say something else, but thought better of it. She turned and began to walk away, slowing and stopping she looked back over her shoulder, "But might I add that I think . . . you look very dashing in that armor." The young female managed, then her hand moved unconsciously over the scar on her face and her tone wavered, "That is . . . well never mind." And she left.

Brooklyn shifted uncomfortably, and before he could think of anything to say Braids latched onto his arm.

"Hah, crazy old wench wanted to let me know that I'm not allowed to speak to you as long as you're wearing Canyon armor, or I risk my father's wrath."

Brooklyn frowned, "Why's that?"

"Well with the exception of females the river clan is not to associate with the canyon clan until Stone Skin is defeated by King Grund, females can talk to each other all they like because we're silly little creatures who have nothing intelligent to say anyway, but we mustn't associate with canyon males."

"Why?" Brooklyn asked.

"Because father stupidly believes that Stone Skin and my mother are lovers."

"Are they?"

Braids looked offended, "Of course not! But they're brother and sister, when the clans reunited they embraced as a brother and sister would, my father however didn't know that and got jealous, he attacked Stone Skin and he was beaten, now he claims that Stone Skin has designs on my mother, his queen, and he'll continue to claim just that until old Stony finally throws the fight and gives him back his pride."

Braids giggled and said, "Of course since nobody trusts Stone Skin anyway they believe Grund's story instead, and Stony just keeps quiet, never defends himself."

Brooklyn frowned, "What did your mother say?"

"She told the truth, and made it worse for now the popular opinion is that Stony's lust even carries over to his own sister, its absolutely amazing how many rumors Stony gets heaped on him, and its mostly because he doesn't ever call them true or false."

"Why not?"

"Dunno. But it makes it easy to tell lies about him." Braids let out a mad laugh, "I started one myself as a joke and said that his name at birth was Butterfly Flower Child, he never said a word to me about it, but he had that carved right into his sword, hah!"

"So at least you know he's got a sense of humor." Brooklyn laughed too, but uneasily. Why would a hero be treated that way? Why wouldn't he defend himself?

"'Course I am his sister's child, and I never threw in with the lot who say he's killed King Daemon, so he probably knew I was just funning." Braids added.

Brooklyn arched an eyebrow, "They say what?"

"Well they say Stone Skin killed Daemon so he could have Daemon's mate for his own. The fact that he adopted Taneal and offered to adopt Danica just nights after Daemon's death gave this rumor strength. Can't tell you if that ones a lie or not though."

"What? Why not?" Brooklyn asked, "A gargoyle would never murder another gargoyle!"

"Really?" Braids seemed surprised, "Why not?"

"It's not . . . the gargoyle way." Brooklyn frowned, realizing the error in that logic even before Braids pointed it out.

"Yeah well . . . we never heard of that." She said.

"So . . . everyone believes their greatest hero killed their greatest king over a female?"

"Yup. I adore love triangles, don't you?"

"Not really . . ." Brooklyn said with a frown.

"That's why Taneal calls herself sister to Dark Eyes and Danica, she leaves Alabaster out because she dislikes him, but she considers Stone Skin her new father, though she does not consider his mate to be her mother."

"Because the queen is her mother, and she's still alive." Brooklyn reasoned.

"Queen's not her mother either, queen's too young, Taneal was just an egg when her mother died and the new queen took over."

"But why suspect a clan hero?" Brooklyn said, "Is it so hard to believe he fell to the rat creatues?"

"Well it is hard to believe because when King Daemon was found there were no signs of a battle, but he'd been stabbed in the back, and rat creatures don't use blades."

**To Be Continued . . . **

**A/N:** Well regarding the headmaster, in the original fiction Leif was _forced_ to become Headmaster by Violet once she became Queen. Violet did this for two reasons, First: Leif didn't want the position and she knew it'd stress him beyond belief to have the kingdom's spiritual wellbeing and martial safety on his head. Second: As headmaster he's not allowed to get married or have a girlfriend, Violet knew her cousin was attracted to Hiromi, guessed it might be mutual and decided to screw up any chance he might have had with her. The fact that Leif is capable of manipulating the Dreaming so well and had been the apprentice of the last headmaster just made the "promotion" seem legitimate.

Lexington's tunic is more like a poncho, maybe it's supposed to be a tabard, I don't know I've always been told they're called tunics, I've never heard of tabards before, guess we really do learn something new each day. Lexton has his wings pierced so that he can wear belts and not run around "nekkid" (I may like Lex, but that is _not_ something I want to picture)so I figured he wears the poncho/tunic/tabard held fast by his belt, which is the only article of clothing to go all the way around him as far as I know. Hope that made sense!


	24. Princess Angela?

**Part Four  
****Princess Angela?**

Angela smiled weakly at the trio of young females with them. The first, Goldenrose was dressed almost like a human princess, and she seemed to have a princess's air. She seemed to be overly interested in Lexington, and Angela wasn't sure how she felt about that.

They were probably the same age give or take, yet Rose seemed too . . . mature for Lexington. Her clothing was one thing, it kept her almost fully covered and modest—if such expensive looking cloths could really be called "modest" but the female already had her sights set on a mate, and Angela didn't want Lexington—who seemed rather interested in Rose—to get the wrong idea, orbe hurt.

Braids, or princess Braids, Angela supposed, seemed to be trading off between an almost obscenely undisguised interest in Brooklyn, and wonderment at Bronx, for it seemed these females had never seen anything like Bronx before, and it was making Brooklyn and Lexington very popular with them. Angela disliked Braids, she wasn't sure why, something about the wild looking female rubbed her the wrong way.

But the third princess present, who bore the slightest of resemblances to talon's clan of mutates with her feline features, Angela found interesting.

She didn't say a word, though Goldenrose had introduced her as Tigris. She wore somewhat revealing cloths made of animal hides dyed blue; her eyes were like a cat's. She sat off to the side, eyes downcast.

When Goldenrose suddenly decided to leave with Lexington, Angela almost protested, and she noticed that Tigris seemed about to do the same.

But the two left too quickly. Angela decided to go over to Tigris and say, "You're very quiet."

The young female just nodded.

"So . . . what clan are you from?"

Tigris frowned and looked at the ground. "The dead one."

Angela tilted her head to the side, "Dead? What do you mean?"

Tigris's frown deepened, "I really would prefer not to talk about it."

"O-of course . . ." Angela frowned. Alabaster had told them about the crushed Forest Clan and the scarred remains of the other three clans as well as the annihilated fifth clan. Was this female a survivor from that clan?

"Tigris huh? You're a princess too right?" Broadway ventured. "That Kisaragi guy who came to our world, he said you were supposed to be a queen someday."

Tigris turned away and leaned against a wall as if she were simply ignoring them, so Broadway quickly said "Hey, I didn't mean to offend you!"

Braids answered on her friend's behalf, "Tigris is no princess. That is, she's nothing she doesn't choose to be until she's ready. She's very—"

"Enough," Tigris said, her voice shaking, "Th-thank you but I believe I can handle this."

"If you want," Braids yawned.

Tigris cleared her throat and said "I used to be a princess of the Forest region. There are very few members of the Forest Clan now, the rats made first contact with us and we tried to fight them off on our own when it first became known that they were hostile. We paid the price in blood, and bodies. My mother and father died, my older sister died and each one in front of my eyes. I would have died too if not for—" The young female stopped, and punched the wall.

"They all say that someday I will be ready to claim the title of queen for the good of my deceased clan. I am not shirking my duties, simply acknowledging that I am unfit for the position of queen."

"Someday you will be." Braids said firmly.

"If I were as strong as Stone Skin." Tigris sighed.

Braids giggled, "You as massively strong as Stone Skin? That'd be a sight, don't you think Prince Brooklyn . . . eh where did he go?" She wondered and without another word she simply left.

Tigris shook her head and Broadway said "Why do you all have kings and queens?"

"Because the First Matron said we should." Tigris said. "She chose five of the most dependable gargoyles, including Lord Methuselah to be the first kings or queens of the clans and told our ancestors that they must pass the title down to their children. My sister was strong and brave, she would have become queen if she hadn't been . . ." Tigris trailed off, beginning to look as if she were seeing a past she did not wish to see.

Angela wanted to stop the conversation, but Broadway it seemed did not. "So when your family died, what did you do?"

Tigris laughed bitterly, "They didn't _die_, cousin. They were _killed_. If you had ever witnessed someone you loved being killed you would know the difference. To die is to fall in due time, to be killed is to have your life ripped away from you without being able to do anything about it, sometimes without warning. It is unfair, and it hurts so badly that it makes those who were not kill wish to die. The rat creatures _killed_ them as they will kill everyone else in this castle.

"As for what I did," Tigris said, seeming to shrink, "well I hid didn't I? What would you have done? We hid like cowards, everyone had died around us, my mother and father, my sister. The others had glided away leaving us behind, so we hid under the roots of a massive old tree."

Angela frowned, if her clan had abandoned her "Who were you hiding with?"

Tigris's frown lifted just a bit, "Dark Eyes, the strongest gargoyle I know. He came with the aid force from the Canyon Clan, and he protected me, together we made our way back to the canyon, the whole time hiding like the frightened children we were."

Angela nodded slowly, she had heard that the Canyon Clan sent aid to the Jung Clan, "Why did the Rat Creatures want to kill you all?"

"Did you see the great beasts at the battle tonight? The dragons? They are ancient enemies of the rat creatures, they fear them, and they _loathe_ the humans. We resemble both to them, which is why they call us 'half-dragons' instead of Gargoyles. They fear us, but we're smaller and weaker than dragons so they thought they'd try to kill us, just to see if it worked . . . it did." Tigris shook her head slowly.

"Why didn't you try to rally the Forest Clan? There might have been other survivors who hid as you did." Angela said.

Tigris looked mournfully at the ground, "Dark Eyes looked for other survivors while we were hiding, I was too afraid to do so. I counted myself a member of the canyon clan until the other survivors of my clan asked me to claim the title of queen and represent them on the new council."

"And did you?" Broadway asked.

"After what I have told you, do you really believe me fit to be queen?" Tigris asked.

Angela nodded slowly, not agreeing with that statement, but not really capable of arguing with it having known this young female for only a few short minutes the life story she'd told them was all she had to go on. "It must be hard for you to fight then," Angela said.

"It would be." Tigris nodded, "But I have not fought one battle since m family was killed. I protect the children and the eggs along with Goldenrose and the Matrons."

"Matrons?" Broadway asked.

"Each clan, except the Canyon Clan has a Matron, they watch over the eggs all night every night, and they teach the children for a portion of the night."

"Kind of like a teacher." Broadway said.

"Yes, exactly!" Tigris said, sounding pleased to move away from a topic about her dead family. "My clan has a matron as well. A Matron's duty is to protect the eggs she watches over with her life, so when the slaughter began the Matron stayed with the eggs, the rats didn't find her or the underground cave where the eggs were kept. So now, in some time this dying clan will have twelve new members." Tigris said softly, "Perhaps one of them will want to be king or queen. Until then there is only myself, and five others."

Angela watched Tigris closely, and dared to say "Your clan seems to think you're worthy of being their queen . . . I think you already _look_ like a queen. All you need is a queen's heart, and I think I see it in your eyes, buried beneath more pain than you should be allowed to carry."

"You shouldn't carry that pain alone either. You should your feelings with your clan, that's what they're there for. They're your family. Me, I never knew my father, I guess he died at the massacre of our castle, maybe he died before then in some epic battle ages past," Broadway said, "I don't even know if I've ever known him or not. You knew both your parents, they've acknowledged you as their child and you've got to have some good memories along with the bad ones."

Angela smiled, "Exactly. They are still alive and with you if you remember them."

Tigris shook her head. "It is easy for you to say such things, Princess Angela." Tigris said, "But what queen would weep on her vassal's shoulders?"

"An honest one." Dark Eyes said, walking casually out from behind a corner, though Angela suspected he'd been listening to them for a while.

She did not trust these brothers, she was not sure why. The idea that Dark Eyes had been spying on them came easily to her mind. Nonetheless she quickly agreed with him, "Yes exactly. There are too few of you for a royal air of superiority, and that should never exist in a gargoyle clan anyway. Be open and honest with your clan."

Tigris frowned and looked at her three opponents, and seemed to decide she couldn't win the argument. Instead she clenched her fists and said "Well what does it matter to any of you if I do become queen?"

"I suppose it does not," Angela admitted, "but at the very least being with your clan is important. Spending time with friends like Goldenrose and Braids is one thing, but you need to share your feelings with those who are feeing the same way you are, let your clan know that you feel pain like theirs, the loss diminished you all. They will not see you unfit for leadership because of it, they will respect you more for being open with them."

"And even if they don't, you didn't want to be queen anyway." Broadway added, "You've got nothing to lose."

"And what about the pain?" Tigris asked.

"It probably won't go away." Angela said. "But you might learn better ways to deal with it."

Tigris bowed her head and whispered "I . . . need to be alone."

Without waiting for an answer she left. Dark Eyes gazed carefully at Broadway and Angela before leaning against the wall and clapping slowly. "Congratulations. That is more than she's said to anyone since the slaughter, her friend Goldenrose included."

"What?" Angela frowned.

"She simply opened up to you," Dark Eyes said, "Goldenrose and I had been trying everything to get her to share her feelings. I'm a little jealous that she just told you, she's known us for years but has only met you tonight." The evil looking Gargoyle grinned, it made Angela uncomfortable, "You've got the air of a queen about you Princess Angela, maybe that's it. It is clear that the Manhattan Clan has gifted leadership as well as talented warriors, between you and Prince Brooklyn your King must need little else to support him."

"We support each other. That is what it means to be a clan." Angela said.

Dark Eyes shrugged, "We here in Atheia may have a great deal to learn from you . . . but be careful, there are some things _you_ should learn too if you want to survive."

"Is that a threat?" Broadway asked.

"Why would I threaten anyone?" Dark Eyes asked, his eyes darkening. "I am merely warning you. There are games at play here, if you're not a player then you're being played, and you'll have to learn to be one or the other before the hour grows too late."

**To Be Continued . . . **

**A/N:** Yes I rather liked the idea of Brooklyn, so incredibly unsuccessful in love suddenly being the center of attention for four attractive females. Oops, did I say four? I mean (counts on fingers) two. Yes two. Ha-ha! Thank you QueenTatooine, you've hit the nail right on the head. The three major clans _are_ trying to recruit the Manhattan Gargoyles to their causes. They want to be the ones with the greatest influence over them, by wearing cloths and colors of those clans they show that the clans have an influence over them, though few rank and file gargoyles care, the kings and queens know the game they're playing.

In Grund's case if Stone Skin is killed by a warrior clad in River armor then he could still say he fell to the River Clan. Goldenrose simply feels that anything other than castle clothing is rags and didn't want possibly the first Gargoyle Veni-Yan Kari to be wearing rags. The Canyon Queen has more secretive reasons behind setting her sights on Brooklyn, though it might not be what you think, or what she inadvertently ends up leading him to think.


	25. Youre not Alone

**Part Five  
****You're Not Alone . . .**

Loki stood calmly as Baldur roared and complained at him for his failures, for his mistakes. "Now the rat creatures believe that the humans have summoned up dragons! They will be more reluctant to attack!"

Loki shrugged. So what? That seemed insignificant compared to the fact that the Headmaster had nearly summoned a Ghost Circle.

Or that Hiromi might be on her death bed. The young dragon was not even sure what the female meant to him, she was merely human after all . . . but if she did not survive Baldur would not.

In fact, either way Baldur would not survive.

Loki glanced at Skadi who was badly injured. Such a fool, how would she explain the injuries to Odin and make him believe her?

Suddenly Baldur grabbed Loki by the neck, "How do we bring victory from this defeat trickster? Tell me!" Baldur roared.

Loki gripped the elder dragon's talon, but found himself too weak to remove it from his neck.

"I know." Skadi said softly.

"Oh?" Baldur scoffed.

Skadi glared at Loki and he knew exactly what she was going to suggest.

He knew because it had been _his_ plan. His plan for when the castle finally got boring, which hadn't happened yet, he tried to tell her to stop but she spoke before he could silence her.

"Freya." She said calmly.

"What?" Baldur wondered.

"Freya. The river prevents us from fully surrounding the castle, but it also prevents them from escaping to the north towards Pawa."

Baldur scoffed, "Oh yes. The troubles we would know there!"

"We have Freya come down from Pawa, tell her that the Atheians are going to escape to Pawa and she will bring her entire horde to aid us. They will be the far side of the river, the Atheians will suspect we plan something, a bridge or something of that sort, and they will devide their forces on the walls."

Loki scoffed, Skadi had missed the biggest detail of his plan involving the lovely but violent ice dragon Freya.

Good, he didn't want the humans to fall yet. He had servants among them, and he would have to evacuate them before any fall could be allowed to come about.

Well technically he did not have to do anything, but those servants would provide further service and fun, so he could not simply discard them.

"I like this plan." Baldur said. "But if it is not enough . . . I will have to take matters into my own hands. I will inform the organization, all of us will witness the battle, and if the rat creatures should fail all of us will lay siege to Atheia."

Loki shuddered, imagining so many dragons attacking the castle.

It looked like one way or another the next attack would be the last.

He had to stall so he quickly said "Freya and her horde will have an easier time of it if we wait until winter."

"Agreed." Baldur said, "But war is not always easy."

"Wait until winter and I can guarantee you the castle." Loki dared. "But you must listen to me. No more attacks at all. Make it seem as if the dragons have frightened off the horde, in the mean time use this rest to breed and train more rat creatures, use this time to tell them that our grand organization of sorcerers will be accompanying them to the next battle, tell them that together all of us are a match for any dragons we might face." Loki said, an Baldur snickered at the idea of pretending to be a little human mage capable of fighting a dragon.

"Wait until the twenty fifth day of the final month of the year. That day would be ideal." Loki said, "It will be a day of rest for all in Atheia, and it will hurt their morale to fight on such a day. I guarantee you the castle if you do these things.

Baldur smiled darkly. "I will do them, young one. But I guarantee _you_ your death if the next attack fails. The entire organization will hunt you down, no amount of trickery, not even the protection of Odin will save you from our wrath. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly master." Loki said with a wicked grin, and he bowed.

**

* * *

**

Leif Harvestar sat alone in his dark cell.

Shadows were his power, his domain, but he felt no motivation to use them to free himself, and would not have, even if his mouth had not been gagged, if his hands had not been tied in front of him.

He stared blankly at the empty cell across from him, his mid flooded with thoughts of the battle.

Had he really tried to summon a ghost circle over the entire castle? He hadn't meant to, but he'd been out of line summoning a ghost circle at all.

_But we must use what we must use in the defense of our beliefs._ He thought bitterly.

His bound hands wandered to his chest, he found that his golden medallion was gone. He must have lost it in his rage, For some reason he felt both sorrow and joy at its loss, and he knew only the former was appropriate.

His mind played over the last moments of that battle . . . had Hiromi really stopped him or had he imagined it? Was she still alive?

_No. Of course not. No one could survive a blow from an elder dragon._ Leif thought.

It hurt him to think that she was gone . . . it'd hurt Almasy too, he wondered how the child would handle it? Asside from Dark Eyes, Hiromi had been the only person the child would confide in. If he were not in the cell perhaps they could deal with the pain together but . . .

_Who cares? He has always been our enemy._ Leif thought bitterly. _Taunting us in front of Hiromi, ignoring our instructions. Did we not do our best to make him feel welcome in Atheia? To feel important? He repaid us with scorn. He will pay, he will pay the same price as all of our enemies._

Did Leif really have enemies? He didn't believe in holding grudges, though he hadn't been able to help himself from wanting redemption against the dragon that had killed Birch.

He'd thought it might cause Violet to trust him, instead it had caused him to break sacred oaths and become imprisoned, likely awaiting execution.

Oh those dragons were probably very pleased with themselves now.

_All dragons should die, they're nothing but meddlers, stupid interfering beasts! _Leif thought angrily, a dragon had killed Birch who'd been like a brother to him, and the same dragon had killed Hiromi, the only woman he'd ever loved.

That dragon at least would have to be . . .

_Torn asunder, ripped to pieces, devoured by the rat creatures, by the locusts . . ._ The former Headmaster thought with a horrible mix of excited anticipation and horrified disgust.

He sat alone in his dark cell, tracing designs in the dust.

What would become of him now?

_Escape_. He thought.

But how? With his hands bound and his mouth gagged he could not cast any spells . . .

He felt something hit his cheek softly and fall into his hand.

He looked down at it and felt mixed emotions. It was as if part of him felt exhilarated and pleased, even relieved to see it, while another part of him was outraged and surprised to see the little locust sitting on his palm.

_It begins._ He thought.

He would show Violet. She hadn't trusted him when he'd been worthy of her trust, hadnt supported him when he'd been worthy of her support . . . now he'd have to show her.

He'd teach her that royalty was not superiority by birthright, that any kind of superiority had to be fought for and earned, and she had earned nothing.

He on the other hand, he would earn everything!

_And what we do not earn we will take . . . with an iron fist. _He thought bitterly, hatred filling him.

How dare they? How dare they put him in this cell?

He felt an unstoppable rage building in him, it made his chest feel tight when her thought _We will make them all pay for imprisoning us._

Leif felt too much anger inside himself to argue . . . with himself.

But there were so many that he didn't want to hurt, in fact as he thought of it he realized he didn't want to hurt anyone, not even Violet.

_But some times we do what we do not wish to do. Sometimes we have no choice._

Leif knew that was true, sacrifices must be made. That was just how wars were fought.

He felt an odd churning inside him and suppressed a shudder when another locust flew into the cell.

Where were they coming from?

_What does it matter?_ He thought. _It is beginning, soon we will be free_.

The young man put his bound hands over his face and groaned. It was not terribly difficult to do so even with the gag in his mouth, and the two locusts responded quickly, crawling up his sleeves and out of sight.

He felt them on his skin and wanted to recoil, wanted to kill them, crush them and rid himself of the unclean symbols of evil.

He could not. His bonds held his hands fast, and something else, something inside of him kept him from doing so by any other means.

_They are the only allies we have now._ Leif decided darkly as the guards came to his cell, flanking Violet and that young woman from before.

For some reason Leif felt a sudden surge of hatred, he wanted those two to die and he didn't know why!

Well, he knew why he was mad at Violet, the whole imprisonment thing annoyed him. But he didn't really feel like she, or her young comrade needed to die.

And yet he did. The needed to die so very soon.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**A/N:** Young Dingeye and Thura actually reappear in both Thorn and Lord of Locusts chapters towards the end of the second act, and they are strong characters in the third act earning their own chapters which they share with another important character whom you already know but will remain nameless. As for plots, well everything will be revealed by the end, that's about all I can say. I will say that while everything is revealed not everything is resolved, leading one to suspect there might be a sequel. This was done to leave my options open, but I really have so little time to work on works besides the ones I'm working on now at this time a sequel seems doubtful (unless I get 150 reviews, hahaha just kidding)

This chapter here takes the first step in expanding the world, we've introduced Pawa, stated that there are Rat Creatures there too, stated that yet another dragon, Freya the Frost Dragon reigns there. People who've read Bone probably know that Pawa was a part of the Atheian empire during its glory days, but fought _alongside_ Princess Briar (Hooded One) and the Rat Creatures during the siege of Atheia, and the attacks on the Valley. Whether they had at some past time claimed independence or were only then rebelling I wasn't quite sure. I probably would be if I re-read everything again. However Pawa does become a part of this story, even though they were never part of the original fan arts.


	26. Problems

**Part Six**

**Problems**

"Why we deal with this one, I'll never know. The harlot." Skadi whispered.

"She is a great warrior." Bladur corrected.

Loki just leaned against the wall ant watched as the woman in question approached. It occurred to him that though they'd often spoken before in the world below this was the first time that he'd seen Freya as a human. She was fun just to watch.

Tall and slender, her long silvery white hair went down to her waist. Her average chest was improved by the breastplate she wore, though it did not cover her belly, so as to properly display a tattoo of a black dragon eating itself from tail onwards encircling her navel. She went barefoot over the smooth, cold floors of her temple, though the many anklets she wore jingled and jangled as she walked, making a silent approach improbable.

Her body was wrapped in ivory white silks, she wore an armored bracer on her left hand, silver bracelets on her right, she wore a silver choker with a symbol of an eye placed over the center of her throat. A beautiful silver chain belt at her waist to which a long beautiful sword in its scabbard hung.

This woman did seem a mad cross between a warrior and a harlot and Loki wasn't so sure she didn't resemble them both intentionally.

Freya smiled invitingly at him and he felt his blood turn cold.

Freya, one of the few frost dragons, and one of the only dragons to prefer human form, it would seem. She was flanked by two guards, neither looked like he'd tolerate any nonsense, or any threat to the paragon of beauty he protected.

Freya leaned close to Skadi, her cold blue eyes flashing with anger for a moment, "Don't want to deal with me, eh? Well then why in the name of darkness did you come, stumpy?"

Loki laughed. He couldn't help it "stumpy" was such a good name for Skadi.

Of course it was insensitive, but she was the one who'd been stupid enough to allow a human, the book worm no less, to cut of her hand.

Baldur glared at him and he silenced himself at once, but Freya spun towards him and curtsied, "I see you've brought my betrothed."

"Don't get overexcited." Baldur said, "We're in a hurry."

"Oh of course you are. But one _does_ tend to think certain thoughts when she looks upon her future mate." Freya grinned and winked suggestively at Loki.

"I wasn't aware that you two were an item." Loki said to Baldur. He grinned at Freya, "And such a young thing too!" Freya was a few decades Loki's senior, which by dragon standards was practically nothing. It still left her a child compared to the ancient Baldur. "Now we know a bit more about your character, master. You cradle robber you." Loki would tease him about this for the next century!

"Actually," Baldur said, "she was referring to you."

"Oh right, of course." Loki said, chuckling to himself. "Wait . . . what?" He demanded.

"It's so nice to see him thrown off like this," Skadi sighed wistfully, "we should have come to see you much sooner Freya."

"I'd rather like to know why you're desecrating my temple _now_, Stumpy."

"Ah that, well it is a matter of little importance, but we have received word from our spies that the humans mean to strike out at Pawa, to invade."

"A matter of little importance indeed!" The beautiful human face became hard and dark, she put her hand on her sword, "Why are they not contained?"

"They are, and that is the problem," Loki said quickly, "They are running low on food and mean to take it from the rich farmlands of Pawa, moreover they believe that the mountains would allow them a chance to hide from the rat creatures. During the next battle they plan to storm the gates and cut a path clear to Pawa."

"I'll just kill them." Freya shrugged.

"No you won't, because they have a spell to make them all invisible. That's why you need to catch them off guard . . ." Loki said, and he began to tell her about his plan, leaving out a few key things that he didn't want Baldur to know, but that Freya would have to be aware of in order for _all_ of Loki's plans to succeed..

He could return later and tell her in privacy, it was all too perfect because now he could claim that he was merely visiting his fiancée.

Thrown off indeed. The sly Loki may sometimes be surprised, but be that as it may he was never off his game.

* * *

Thorn leaned down over the table looking at a map of the castle and the ruined city as the captain of the guard, Fydor, a Veni-Yan warrior pointed out where the rats had attacked this night, and where the gates were now at their weakest. 

"Well my uh . . . queen," Fydor said, tactfully avoiding looking at either woman when he said 'queen', "So far the wounded number is what I would expect, but the losses are surprising. We've lost a score of Veni-Yan warriors, half a dozen gargoyles, and two score of the volunteers."

Violet slammed her fist into the stone table—it must have been made with angry Harvestars in mind, because it only trembled, it did not break—"Blast Leif! He's killed my people!"

Fydor cleared his throat, "My queen, they got _into_ the castle. These numbers should have been a lot higher. To tell the truth I do not know why we did not lose _more_ people. The dragons may have spooked the rats in the last moments of the battle, and that great one that was atop the castle, he might have made them nervous. We cant count on that again."

"Well, my marshal of the armies," Violet said to the so suddenly promoted captain, "how will you defend my castle and my people?"

Fydor seemed stunned, Thorn said "What about your current Marshal?"

"If she recovers Lady Kisaragi will have to assume the role of Headmistress." Violet said.

"Is she really fit for such a role? Has she prepared for it?" Thorn asked.

"She can manipulate the dreaming better than anyone—" Violet began but Thorn dared to interrupt the older—well technically younger woman.

"What of the old headmaster?"

"Well he _did_ try to kill us all." Violet rolled her eyes.

Fydor stirred uneasily, and Thorn raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you disagree?"

Fydor swallowed a lump in his throat, then said "Yes ma'am."

Thorn put her hands on her hips. "Explain then, ca—marshal."

Fydor frowned and said "The Headmaster has always had the kingdom's best interest in mind, I cannot believe he would have tried to destroy us. And if he had meant to do so, why wait until now? The battle was as good as lost, the rats would have killed us all through sheer numbers, they did not need to sacrifice thousands of their warriors, the ghost circle would have killed them too."

"Not kill." Thorn pointed out. "Ghost circles don't really kill. They sortoftrap you in the world of the Lord of Locusts."

"Is there really a significant difference?" Fydor raised an eyebrow, and though she could have argued Thorn surrendered the point.

"I want to speak to the former headmaster." She said. "I want to find out what he was trying to accomplish."

Violet laughed bitterly, "Oh I shall accompany you. This ought to be entertaining."

* * *

Thorn felt odd as soon as she entered the dark dungeon. 

Had she really agreed to allow such a place to be built right under her beautiful castle? She knew that Atheia needed prisons but . . .

This place was worse than the prison she and Fone Bone had been thrown into . . . and how she wished she had Fone Bone with her now.

The guards led the two young women to the only occupied cell . . . the cell of the headmaster.

He was tracing designs on the ground, Thron's eyes widened when she recognized them. One was the symbol of the Lord of Locusts, six locusts in a sort of star formation. Another was a six armed dragon . . .

The hooded youth looked up at them and looked to the ground again. He said nothing, but his cousin was a different matter.

"I thought I told you to bind his hands!" Violet roared.

"We did my queen!" One of the guards said.

"He has fingers, he can kill with a finger, is his mouth properly bound?"

Thorn shook her head, "Bound? We want to talk to him, remove the gag!"

The guards obviously didn't know who to obey, but Violet nodded and said, "Very well. Remove the gag, but tie his hands better _first_."

Thorn nodded and the guards did as the two queens bade.

When they were done Violet folded her arms. "Well? Ask your questions." She said.

Thorn nodded and approached the headmaster. She felt instantly uncomfortable, and at the same time, a terribly familiar presence filled the cell.

There was evil here.

"Leif Harvestar?" Thorn asked.

"Mm?"

"You stand before the Queen of Atheia, Violet Harvestar. You stand also before Thorn Harvestar, also Queen of Atheia."

"I would applaud . . . alas, the bands." Leif sighed.

"We don't want a standing ovation, we want answers!" Violet snapped.

"Stop it!" Thorn snapped at the older yet younger queen. To the headmaster she said "Will you remove your hood, Headmaster?"

"I would rather not."

"Why not?" Thorn asked suspiciously.

"Why would I?" Leif shrugged.

Thorn held up her hand. "Remove your hood." She said firmly.

"When you remove the bands." The headmaster said just as firmly.

Thorn relented. "Very well then. She drew her sword and cut the bands.

Violet was outraged, "Treason!" She screamed.

"I'm the queen." Thorn reminded her, "And I say this prisoner's bonds are released . . . for now. Whether or not that remains true will depend on his behavior. Now . . . the hood?"

The Headmaster slowly removed his hood, he looked odd.

Thorn supposed he'd be handsome if certain features didn't remind her of herself. He had her nose, she'd almost swear her eyes too if they didn't have such dark rings around them.

"What do you want from me?" The headmaster asked.

"I want to know," Thorn said softly, "why you summoned the ghost circle."

"Seemed a good idea at the time." The headmaster shrugged.

Thorn's eyes narrowed. "You put the entire kingdom in danger because it seemed a good idea?"

The headmaster shrugged. "I only meant for it to fall upon the dragons."

"Why?" Thorn asked.

"I felt like they should be stopped. I felt like that was the only way to do it."

"Why stop a dragon?" Thorn asked. The headmaster seemed reluctant to speak so she said, "Tell me, and I may trust you."

"The dragons are our enemies. They are working with the rat creatures."

Thorn scoffed. Lies, nonsense, she couldn't believe that. She glared at Violet, who surprisingly hadn't burst out with rage.

Violet looked almost embarrassed as she said, "We do have reason to believe that _some_ dragons have joined the enemy."

"How can that be?" Thorn asked. "The rat creatures hate dragons, why would they join forces with them?"

"We're not sure. But we do believe the dragons can change form."

"They couldn't before!" Thorn said.

"They can now. The two Hooded Ones we fought seemed human enough until they sprouted wings." The headmaster said softly.

Thorn staggered back.

She had to fight dragons now . . .

She shook her head, "How can we defend the kingdom against dragons _and_ rat creatures?" She thought to herself.

But she realized that without meaning to she'd spoken aloud.

"We have long been on our last leg." Violet admitted, "Sooner or later it will all end. We will lose and we will all die."

Thorn shook her head. "Not while I'm alive."

"That's true . . . because they won't take prisoners, not because you're so great." Violet said, then added "Not that you are not to be respected little sister, that was quite a feat, those battlefield acrobatics."

"Sister? I thought you said I was your great grand mother!" Thorn scoffed.

"Well technically when I said "great" I meant that you were grand, impressive, I am the daughter of your own daughter Magnolia—uh, that is I would be if you were truly Thorn Harvestar."

Thorn rolled her eyes, "Never mind. I don't have time for this," She turned to the headmaster, "How did you call the ghost circles?"

"The _Wraith Conjurer_, it is a powerful blade forged from the weapon of Princess Briar."

Thorn scoffed, "Briar? You mean the Hooded One."

"The first anyway, there are many more now." Violet said.

Thorn shook her head, "But why do such a thing?"

"The metal was said to be throbbing with magical energy, it was forged by a master who presented it to the queen at the time, you." The headmaster said calmly, moving his hands into his sleeves so that he rather resembled a monk, he said "The blade was entrusted to me, I used it once and felt an incredible evil from it so I put it aside and never used it again. However tonight after I spoke to Violet I returned to my chambers for it."

"Why?" Thorn asked.

"That doesn't matter," Violet pointed out, "The fact is he used it. I suggest it be destroyed."

Thorn shrugged, "That suits me. But it's just a normal sword, it has no magical energy."

"It may have burned out after the failure to summon a ghost circle," The headmaster pointed out, "Or perhaps the fight with the dragons was too much for it. Good riddance though, it was an evil thing."

Thorn pondered for a moment, and said "All right. Let my grandson out of this cell."

"I beg your pardon?" Queen Violet blinked.

"From what I've heard we need every pair of hands we can get, and if those hands are skilled with a sword, and the dreaming they're all the more necessary. Let him out of the cell."

Violet shifted uneasily and said "I'll need your word Leif, for what that's worth. No ghost circles."

"You believe that I can summon them without the blade?" Leif asked, raising an eyebrow.

Violet scowled, "Very well then! You are free and may continue as Headmaster . . ." Violet said bitterly, trailing off and mumbling to herself.

Thorn wondered who had taught this girl how to be queen, because they'd done a poor job.

She wore her emotions on her sleeves, promoted people she clearly didn't trust, and had a bit of an attitude.

"I thank you. And to prove just how trustworthy I am, I will set about solving your gate problem."

"Gate problem? How do you know about that?" Violet demanded.

Leif looked surprised, "I've been here for two hours, not two years. I saw the gates."

"Oh . . ." Violet said, seeming embarrassed, "Well . . . yes you solve that problem then. Get to it!"

Thorn offered her hand to the freed headmaster and he reached out to take it. Something passed between them, like a terribly unpleasant jolt of static shock, and the young headmaster staggered back almost as if he were recoiling from her touch.

"Are you alright?" Thorn asked him.

"Y-yeah . . . I'm just a little dizzy all of a sudden." He said. Thorn's eyes narrowed as the headmaster pulled his hood over his head, "That's better." He said.

That seemed awfully _familiar_.

Queen Thorn watched the hooded headmaster exit his cell, and bow to her and Violet. "If you'll excuse me, I've important matters to attend to".

Thorn watched him go. She turned to Violet, "That's one problem solved, now for the others."

"Solved?" Violet demanded. "We've solved nothing, all you've done is free my cousin! I do not trust him, Thorn."

Thorn wasn't so sure now that _she _trusted him, but something else Violet had said caught her attention. "So you believe I am Thorn now?" Thorn asked with a grin.

"Yes. A thorn in my side!" Violet shot back, grinning too.

She'd inherited Thorn's smile at least.

**To Be Continued . . . **

**A/N:** There will be due time to figure out what has happened to the headmaster, I can't just tell you. There are hints inside the chapter, and more as the story progresses. It is however, not Loki.

In the original fan art I often drew Loki and Freya together because . . . well I just kind of did, it wasn't planned or anything. Eventually of course the question of "are they a couple" came up, which inspired Freya's appearance and role in this tale, she did not appear in the prequel, but neither did Pawa so I killed two birds with one stone and introduced both at once, making Freya the Self Proclaimed Queen of Pawa (self proclaimed being part of her self chosen title) her relationship with Loki is pretty one sided, he's not really in love with her, and she knows it, she just isn't going to let that be a problem, she's his fiancée whether he likes it or not. Any little samurai that get in the way of that, well they'll just have to be eaten.


	27. On the Trail

**Part Seven**

**On the Trail of Conspirators . . .**

Lexington grinned when he saw Brooklyn, "Whoa! Look at you: that sword and that outfit; just like the canyon clan!"

"Look at you," Brooklyn laughed, "You look just like a member of the Castle Clan!"

"They're lovely costumes." Angela said dryly.

"Why did you two change cloths?" Broadway asked, sounding just a little jealous.

Brooklyn shrugged, "Well the queen . . . what's her name?"

"Violet." Angela provided.

"Yeah . . . wait no, I mean the canyon clan's queen, what's her name?"

"I don't think she's offered it." Lexington said, wondering about that. He couldn't recall a name attached to the sultry looking queen.

"Right . . . well she gave me this armor, and this sword." Brooklyn said.

"Why?" Angela asked.

"She probably gave it to him to make him stop drooling and staring at her." Broadway said with a chuckle, and Lexington laughed too. Brooklyn tried halfheartedly to deny Broadway's accusation.

Angela however, did not laugh. She looked mildly amused though. "Have either of you seen Goliath?" She asked.

"No. Not since he left with Hudson and Elisa to explore the castle." Brooklyn said.

"I saw him." Almasy said, appearing suddenly, "He's with that woman, they were talking to Grund."

The child was wearing his robes and hood, though they seemed too big for him. He pointed to Lexington and said, "Bad news though, you and me are helping in the kitchens tonight."

"You're what?" Brooklyn was surprised.

"Can I help?" Broadway asked hopefully.

"No!" Brooklyn and Lexington told him together.

"The kitchens," Almasy said, "it's where we've been assigned to work tonight. Your friend Prince Brooklyn was assigned there too, but he got drafted for patrol duty." Almasy gave Brooklyn a disappointed look, "Lucky." He said.

Lexington shook his head in amazement, "The kitchens? But that's—"

"Boring? Tedious? I know." Almasy said.

"Actually I was going to say 'great'." Lexington said. "They didn't show me the kitchens, I'd like to see them."

"So would I." Broadway said.

Almasy shook his head, "Yeah . . . whatever. You can come too then."

"Yes!" Broadway cried, punching his fist into the air. "Can Angela come too?"

Angela shook her head, "I will look for Goliath and Elisa."

"Suit yourself." Broadway said.

The trio set off, leaving Brooklyn, Bronx and Angela behind.

Lexington found once he was in the kitchens that they were simply amazing!

They were massive, a huge kitchen with so many ovens and stoves that Lexington wasn't sure how they could all be taken care of.

Indeed the kitchen staff seemed to be about fifteen men and women and three gargoyles, among them was Noori.

The female gargoyle nodded to him, Lexington was surprised for he had assumed her to be a warrior given the sword she wore, though she had hung it up on a wall. Lexington however easily accepted that warriors too could be proficient cooks.

"Young master Almasy, you're late!" Noori called, "Now get an apron on, you two as well, we need all the help we can get!"

"Yes ma'am." Almasy sighed.

"How's that arm?" Noori demanded.

"My arm?" Almasy blinked.

"You told me last night that it would have to be amputated?" Noori said, waving a wooden spoon at the youth who shrugged.

"Well . . . it got better." He said.

"Uh-huh. Get to work." Noori shook her head and said to Lexington, "Now you . . . I want you to help him cut carrots, be careful," She said, then added loudly, "I hear they can cause a terrible rash, requiring amputation!" She shouted at Almasy, "But don't worry, you'll get better." She said, waving Lexington off and looking at a list. "Ah, you," she said to Broadway, "You are going to help me, we've got these pies . . ."

Lexington headed over to Almasy's post, the youth was slowly cutting carrots in a bored fashion.

"You don't like working in the kitchens." Lexington guessed.

"Would you?" Almasy scoffed.

"Yes." Lexington said. "It's an easy chore, and a nice way to repay our cousins for letting us stay here with them."

"Like they'd do anything different." Almasy scoffed. "Well . . . I know what you mean. But it's boring. I could do more if they'd let me fight." He scoffed again, "But Hiromi-Chan says I'm too young."

"Do you know how to use a blade?" Lexington asked, taking a knife and cutting the carrots.

"No. But I can use a bow." Almasy said, "I could have helped on the walls."

"Maybe." Lexington said. "But I'm sure Hiro—er I mean the Marshal had a good reason."

"Ch'yeah, thinks I'm a kid." Almasy said.

Lexington suddenly realized that he'd get this done a lot faster if he just used his dagger.

He worried that it might tarnish the blade, but for some reason he felt like it'd be forgivable.

Like lightning he cut the carrots, chopping them so quickly that before he knew it they were finished.

Almasy gapped at him. "What the hey, let's see you do the potatoes now!"

"Uh, okay . . ." Lexington said, feeling a strange sort of pleasure just in holding the dagger.

With speed that defied all reason he cut the potatoes.

Almasy let out an impressed whistle, "You're workin' the kitchens with me every night from now on pal. Hey Droopy!"

"That's Noori! Noori!" The female gargoyle cried, waving a wooden spoon threateningly at Almasy.

"Yeah, right, well we're done so we're gonna go now!" Almasy said and dashed off without waiting for permission.

Noori came over and inspected Lexington's cooking job, she shook her head and said "Well . . . I uh, guess it _is_ done then. How did you do that so quickly, it hasn't even been an hour since you got here!"

Lexington just shrugged, "I just cut them."

"Ah, of course." Noori nodded, "You actually did the work, kept focused, spot on, no distractions and you got the work done . . . really quickly." She shook her head in disbelief, "Well uh . . . okay . . . off you go then."

Lexington shrugged and left the kitchens, he found Almasy waiting for him. "Hey, I wanna know something." The boy said. "I've been thinking about the things you guys said, about how if we open the portal we can win the war."

"That's what _Brooklyn_ said." Lexington pointed out, "I didn't say anything like that. But it's probably true."

Almasy shook his head, "No it isn't. I think you—uh _he_ is exaggerating. The army couldn't take these guys down, the clans at their prime couldn't take these guys down, and your clan cant be very big, if it were you'd be easier to notice and I'd have known about Gargoyles before coming here."

"Not really." Lexington shrugged, "I mean our clan is small, but we keep ourselves hidden, so it's not surprising you haven't heard of us before." Lexington lowered his head, "But you're right. I don't think that portal will win the war. Not now that I've seen how many rat creatures there are. If Xanatos built a thousand robots we might win, but that would take time, maybe years, and it'd be expensive, he'd want to be repaid by the Atheians."

"Exactly what I think." Almasy said, "Robots are expensive, and they're not indestructible, the rat creatures could lose a hundred warriors for every robot they destroy and a thousand still wouldn't be enough. They breed like rats, their numbers keep rising. I don't know how long it takes for them to be battle ready warriors but it isn't as long as it takes to train new Veni-Yan."

Lexington shook his head, "This may seem like an unbeatable enemy, but it isn't, I think if we keep trying our best we can win. You'll see, now that Goliath is here anything is possible."

Almasy shook his head, "Yeah? Is he as good as Hiromi-Chan and the Headmaster? Because I hear the rats wasted them both last battle!" The boy clenched his fists then whispered, "That's . . . not true, is it? You were there."

Lexington frowned, "I heard the Marshal was injured, but I don't know what happened to the Headmaster."

Almasy scoffed, "Probably got himself killed. Not a really strong fighter, y'know? He's a dreamer , and in more ways than one." The boy frowned, "But I sure hope he didn't. Get killed I mean . . . he's . . . he's not _so_ bad. He was kinda cool sometimes."

"How kind of you to say." The headmaster said, Lexington was startled when he looked behind him and saw the hooded figure standing there, he had approached in complete silence! "I was beginning to think you disliked me, but now I know I was incorrect."

"What? I was just kidding!" Almasy cried. "I uh . . . I still think you're uncool!"

"Be that as it may I will need your assistance. Both of you." Lexington couldn't see it, but he could 'hear' the Headmaster's grin.

"What do you need us for?" The young gargoyle asked.

The headmaster whispered, "This information does not move beyond you two, do you understand?" The two nodded, the headmaster said "The enemy has dragons. I am sure you must have seen them, I fought with them and it was one of them that injured our dear Marshal of the Armies."

"We didn't see anything like that." Lexington said, "We couldn't see you at all during the battle, everyone was wondering where you were."

"Just as well, it would shatter our morale if the soldiers believed the dragons had sided against them. Listen carefully, I recall in the library a tale of a dragon slayer. Seeing Thorn reminded me of him. I am going to need your help because I plan to do something that has never been done before and capture a dragon."

"You need us for _that_?" Almasy said, sounding impressed and pleased.

Lexington wasn't so sure. "You need _us_ for that?" He asked.

The headmaster nodded, "Indeed. You, young master Lexington because I will need a cool calculating mind if my own should fail, and you master Almasy because I have faith in your ability. Our Marshal had—_has_ faith in your ability, this is your chance to prove yourself to her, to prove yourself a warrior."

Lexington frowned, would the Marshal really want Almasy doing something so dangerous? Would it really be a way of proving himself?

But Lexington had no real reason not to trust the headmaster . . . so he nodded.

"Excellent. Meet me in the courtyard in an hour." The headmaster said, "Bring only yourselves and talk about our plans to no one."

Lexington nodded, but the excited Almasy said "Wait, why an hour? Why not now? This has to be done quick man!"

The headmaster shook his head, "No. An hour, I am going to check on the condition of our Marshal."

"Oh . . . I want to come too." Almasy said firmly.

"As you wish." The headmaster shrugged. "In one hour, master Lexington, and come alone."

Lexington nodded and the two humans left. He felt odd once the headmaster was gone, as if something very negative had just left him, which was odd because he did not remember the headmaster causing feelings of negativity in him before.

He decided to go back into the kitchens to help Broadway with those pies—and make sure he wasn't eating too many of them—when he heard a soft whisper.

"It's amazing, truly amazing!" A female voice said.

"Shh! Don't get too worked up." A male voice replied.

Lexington followed the sounds down the hall, wanting to see what was so amazing, and wanting to make sure that these two had not overheard the Headmaster's instructions.

"He looks just like Daemon, I nearly died of fright when I saw him! I almost thought we'd have to kill him again!" The female voice whispered.

Lexington paused. Kill him again?

Kill?

Kill who?

"Even if we did have to kill Daemon again, I wouldn't. It wasn't right. He was a _gargoyle_ just like us!" The male voice said harshly.

"I did not mean to imply that it was right, my love. But it was necessary, and I regret the loss and the necessity, but if he had discovered us as he was so close to doing all would be ruined. Our plans require secrecy, do they not?"

"Y-yes . . . I suppose . . ." The male sighed. "I wish there was another way."

"As do I. But this is the only way for us to survive. On that note, I did not summon you here for the pleasure of your company my love, I wish to speak to you of this new development. This Thorn may be a problem."

"She was impressive on the battle field, the way she leapt onto the head of the rat creature king, the way she fought as if she had the strength of ten gargoyles!" The male said, sounding inspired.

"Exactly. She can be a powerful ally for us, or she can be our undoing. But if we can convince her to take the throne away from Violet . . ."

"Then it could cause a civil war! The humans would fight among themselves and the clans . . ."

"Could finally be convinced to abandon this hopeless cause, perhaps ally ourselves with the _winning _side."

"Brilliant."

"Of course it is. _I _thought of it."

Lexington could stand no more, whoever these two were they needed to be stopped! He drew his dagger and felt relieved when he did so, he shoved the door open and said, "Just what do you think you're doing in here?"

But there was no one there. It was an empty barracks, there were ten cots along the walls, with foot lockers . . . and an open window! Lexington rushed over to the window and peered outside.

There were gargoyles soaring through the sky everywhere . . . but nothing that resembled a pair of murderers.

He gripped his dagger tightly. "All right." He said, "We'll just see."

They'd gotten away this time, and he hadnt made out their voices because the door had muffled them, but he would take this new information to the Headmaster and see if he knew anything . . . no . . . maybe not the headmaster, he had a bad feeling about him for some reason.

But someone, he'd figure this out and stop these two from causing a civil war if it was the last thing he did!

* * *

"And so you see . . . I could not tell Baldur, he would not approve." Loki said.

Freya, leaning against a pile of rather comfortable pillows nodded vigorously, "I love this plan, this way my warriors and I can have some fun too, and your silly little flat land horde won't hog it all." She sighed and blew onto her glass of wine, chilling it. "The slaughter will be beautiful."

"Indeed." Loki said, leaning against the door frame, not sure he wanted to risk actually drinking any of the wine offered to him.

Freya _was_ a member of the organization, and the organization was loyal to Baldur.

Though it did seem that Freya was loyal to herself, and her more carnal desires, she was lacking no luxury in her little room, the floor was almost completely covered in soft, comfortable pillows for her to lounge upon, and there were lovely ice sculptures which Freya had herself made with her frosty breath alone.

The breath that would finalize the destruction of the castle and its inhabitants . . . _after_ Loki evacuated his favorite toys that is.

He wasn't sure how he felt about Freya, he wasn't in love with her and he wasn't so sure she was really in love with him. But they had been acquainted for a long time, and there was a level of trust between them that Loki did not share with other organization members.

Maybe that was love, he doubted it. He had more intense feelings for the human woman, and he wasn't so sure that that was love.

If he had to describe love, it was the feeling he got when he outsmarted others, when his plans came full circle, when his plans within his plans succeeded, when the game was fun, that was what love was to Loki.

As for impending marriage . . . well if Freya didn't live long enough to become his mate, that would be that. If she did it might not be so bad if she were always as enthusiastic about his plots as she was now, and at least she'd be attractive enough to make Thor jealous.

"My armies will march, they will arrive in Atheia by the appointed time. It is going to be a red winter solstice . . ."

"Exactly our goal," Loki said with a grin. To play with her emotions a bit he added, "my love" to the end of his sentence.

She smiled appreciatively, and nodded in farewell as Loki was escorted out of the temple, flanked by two large guards.

How fun the game would become once _this_ army attacked Atheia.

In fact it occurred to him that he'd spent entirely too much time in Pawa, he'd stayed behind after Skadi and Baldur left, claiming that he wanted to get to know Freya better, he had instead told her the full plan—or at least what she needed to know—and she had been thrilled.

But he needed to return now, he had been putting off meeting with his father. And he'd been putting off checking on Hiromi . . . he hoped she was okay.

He found it an odd hope, since if his plans came full circle she'd probably die anyway.

Well . . . maybe he'd save her.

He probably wouldn't.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note: **Freya is a rather interesting character, I like her. The first time I drew her I was in the sort of mood where you have just one thing on your mind, and so the drawing ended up being a scantly clad (but still clad) young woman, I was asked if she was a knight or a stripper since the picture began as a soldier type woman so she wore some armor in addition to her less covering attire. I made her the human form of a female dragon I hadn't yet named, a friend suggested she be called Freya, since Freya is associated both with war and sex. I don't recall that being especially true (It's been a long time but wasn't Freya the demigoddess with the apples? I could always look it up, I'm just so lazy) but the name Freya was pretty cool so I went with it anyway.


	28. The Long Patrol

**Important Note: **I must say this is NOT the original Act 2: Part 8 I had prepared. It's the same basic story though, the entire book was lost when my laptop decided to break. I have decided to rewrite everything. This gives me an opportunity to correct whatever issues my readers have with Act 2 since it seems ever since Act 2 began hits and reviews have plummeted, normally I'd not mind the reviews, but the hits do bring me pause. If they're at all accurate only a hand full of human beings are actually reading this, so I must say, where have I gone wrong? Help me to correct this so that in the future I'll know what is and is not appropriate when writing a story. Thanks!

**Part Eight**

**The Long Patrol . . .**

Brooklyn soared through the night along with Braids and two others.

Angelo of the Castle Clan was a total pretty boy. He had long flowing black hair, a bronze complection that went well with his golden bracers and anklets. His wings were feathered, perhaps the reason for his name. He had a sword at his hip, and a spear in his hands.

Iron Claw had a scarred and muscular body, however he was short. Probably not much taller than Lexington, his hands were covered in dirty, bloody gauntlets. Apparently the jungle hero didn't believe in washing his hands after battle.

Brooklyn looked at Braids, she looked really pretty, there was a certain attractive quality she possessed when her face was serious and her eyes searching, something that didn't exist when she was hanging on to him for the fun of it.

Quite suddenly Angelo barked, "I see them!"

"Really? Only just now?" Braids sighed.

"To the left, among the trees." Iron Claw agreed.

Brooklyn glared at the tree line, he saw nothing.

"Seems they're just observing us. I see three." Iron Claw said.

"Five." Braids corrected, her hands on her daggers.

"That means nothing," Angelo said, "It only means that there are _at least_ five."

Brooklyn peered closer . . . he saw a flash of movement, glowing red eyes in the darkness. A small head with round ears, like a demonic teddy bear without a nose.

"I see them!" Brooklyn gasped.

"Quiet!" Angelo hissed, "Not so loud canyon boy, they'll hear you!"

"Excuse me, Prince Brooklyn is a member of the Manhattan clan!" Braids spat.

Angelo didn't seem to care, he gripped his spear, "Let's go!" He said, and he dove towards the trees.

Brooklyn frowned, "No! Wait!" He shouted. He dove after Angelo.

"Slaughter, kill, let's begin!" Iron Claw cried, hurtling himself towards the battle.

If Braids did anything, she did it quietly, and Brooklyn didn't see her. He quickly caught up to Angelo, the larger male swept his hand back to throw his spear, Brooklyn barreled into him, grabbing him around the waist!

They both plumetted to the ground, hitting it hard.

Brooklyn groaned and got up, there was a low hiss from the trees.

Angelo's spear landed harmlessly in a tree trunk, missing its intended target. His spiked elbow shot back, knocking Brooklyn in the fave, "Fool!" He roared.

"Quiet, they'll hear you." Braids said mockingly as she landed next to them.

Brooklyn ignored the pain in his cheek and looked at the woods. Hissing, eyes glowing red six big rats emerged from the woods.

Angelo raised to his feet, he drew his sword, Iron Claw slammed into the ground "What is going on? Why are you just standing there? Let's kill!"

"No wait!" Brooklyn said.

If looks could kill Angelo and Iron Claw would be arguing over which of them had just slain the prince of the Manhattan clan. "What?" Angelo demanded venomously.

"They're not attacking us." Brooklyn said.

"They're our enemies, they die!" Iron Claw explained as if he were explaining something annoyingly simple to a small child.

The rat Brooklyn had seen before bounced out of a tree and onto Angelo's spear, the rat's ears were rounded instead of cropped and pointed, he was smaller than the rest, he seemed to have paws instead of hands, all things considered he looked rather like a cute baby bear as he slipped off of the spear and fell on his bottom.

It didn't take a genius to tell that this was a child.

Braids folded her arms, "They're not the advance scouts of a war party, or there wouldn't be a child. I'm sure they _are_ spies though."

"All the more reason to kill them." Angelo said.

"Why?" Brooklyn asked.

"What do you mean?" Angelo demanded, "They're spies! They have to die!"

"What are they spying that the rats don't already know?" Brooklyn scoffed, "The gates are smashed, they did it, they know it."

Angelo scowled, "I saw we kill them all, the child as well!"

"They didn't come to fight." Braids said in exhasperation, "Do not misunderstand, I am all for a little skirmish, a little brawl . . . but not if all they're doing is looking for their brat."

Brooklyn nodded, "Agreed."

"They've never spared our lives." Angelo hissed. "Why should we spare theirs?"

"Because that way they'll owe us." Braids shrugged.

Angelo scowled, "I'll be talking to your father when we return, you've always been crazy but now you're daft!"

"Can we kill them now?" Iron Claw asked.

"Oh yes." Angelo nodded, and the two older males charged forward.

Brooklyn was annoyed, but he couldnt just let them get themselves killed! He drew Daemon's sword, he felt a gentle tingle move through his arm as he held the sword up high. It was well balanced, and surprisingly light, he glared at the rats.

"Demon! Demon!" They screamed, and without hesitation they fled, taking with them the lost infant.

Brooklyn sighed in relief. He smiled weakly, "Now we don't have to fight." He said.

Angelo glared at him, he ripped his spear from the trunk of the tree–it had sunk in only about four feet from the ground, and hurled it into the woods.

There was an agonized scream, Brooklyn shuddered as Angelo smirked at him. "You think _you_ scared them off? They're cowards anyway."

"I never said–" Brooklyn began but now Iron Claw interrupted him.

"All I wanted was to kill a few rats, it's not like they cant afford it, they got lots of warriors stupid! We can kill some and it doesnt matter, but let them live and they come back to fight again. You stupid and new, so is okay this time. Next time we'll kill."

Brooklyn eyes narrowed. "Of course." He said, choosing to say nothing more.

However he wondered . . . given how close the spear had come to the tree the rat creature child was in . . . had Angelo been aiming for the child? Or had Brooklyn's attempt to stop him thrown off his aim? Had Brooklyn been the one to put the rat creature baby in danger?

Somehow, as he wateched Angelo stalk into the woods to retrieve his spear, he doubted it.

He turned to Braids now, "You saw them first, didn't you? Why did you wait until Angelo spotted them to react?"

"The first one I saw was the child." She shrugged. "Given that they didn't look like warriors to me, I assumed the others were looking for their child. Lot of fools letting it get so close to our territory . . . I've never had any strong desire to harm children, Prince Brooklyn. Given your reluctance, I guess it didn't oppose the 'gargoyle way'?" She smirked at him.

Brooklyn smiled weakly, "No gargoyle worthy of the name would harm a child." He said.

"Ah. Then we're in agreement." Braids said darkly, glaring at Angelo as he emerged from the tree line, the head and the upper third of his spear covered in blood.

Angelo smirked, "Our patrol isnt finished. Maybe we'll get another chance."

Iron Claw bobbed his head hopefully. Brooklyn looked at Braids . . . how could these gargoyles be . . . like this? He'd have to ask her later . . . maybe he'd ask Danica, she seemed to know a thing or two about hatred as well.

* * *

Leif stood over her, she was helpless, asleep and undefended.

Almasy shook his head, "I hear she used the fiery serpents again, did she?" He asked.

"Who told you that?" Leif asked calmly.

"Yido." Almasy shrugged.

Yido, one of the elite soldiers that had come with Leif and Hiromi on their attack. Leif smiled weakly and nodded. "She used her fiery serpents."

"So it must have been bad." Almasy reasoned. "She swore she'd never use them again."

"She did." Leif nodded. "And it was. But that's what I need your help with."

"What do you mean?" Almasy frowned.

"Havent you wondered why you feel a connection to her?" Leif asked. "It's no silly childhood crush, you just assumed that was what it was since you had no idea why else you'd feel so interested in her. In reality she's the closest thing you've ever found to yourself, she's a Veni-Yan Kari . . . and so are you."

Leif smirked beneath his hood as Almasy gapped at him. Smirking seemed very unlike him, it was almost as if someone else had just moved his mouth.

"But you're a Kari, and I don't like you very much . . . I uh . . . I mean . . ."

"Excatly what you said. I don't care. The fact is I'm a Kari of shadow, she's a Kari of light. We're opposites. You too are a Kari of light, that's probably why you don't like me. I've always rather liked you. Like the little brother I never wanted." Leif removed his hood and shook his head, he looked at Almasy seriously, "That is why I need you. Hiromi is hurt, she cant help me with the spell I want to cast, and I cant do it alone. Of all the Veni-Yan Kari in this castle, I believe the three of us, with that young gargoyle, are the three most capable of successfully casting this spell."

_And their powers . . . will become our powers . . . we will suck them dry . . . and we will be free._ The voice in Leif's head thought.

Leif ignored it. That wasn't what he was trying to do, he told himself, he assured himself . . . and yet the idea he had in mind had only appeared there after the voice appeared in his mind.

He watched Almasy, the boy looked overwhelmed. Leif took a deep breath, "Almasy we're going to cast a spell that will change the face of the war. It will not end it, may not even help us acheive victory . . . but it will change everything."

_Because we will be _free _and we will have all of your power!_

Leif twitched, nearly shouting at himself to shut up. He watched Almasy calmly, then turned back to Hiromi.

Light and shadow . . . how he'd fallen in love with her was a mystery to him, none the less he loved her. To see her on the verge of death bothered him, but knowing that it was because of him that she'd broken her oath and used the fiery serpents again . . . he clenched his fist. The locusts stirred.

Suddenly, and without warning his arm shot up to his shoulder, he slammed his fist into said shoulder and felt the satisfying crunch as one of the locusts died.

His reward was a searing pain through his body, the voice in his head was so loud he could have sworn he could _hear_ it through his ears!

**_These are your _only _allies, do not harm them again!_**

Leif smirked, though the little act of rebellion had suddenly robbed him of all his strength and he was forced to lean against a wall, he was satisfied.

This time the smirk felt right, as if he truly were the one smirking. There was something wrong with him, something inside of him . . . but it didn't have complete control just yet.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note: **To every reviewer, and the most loyal Queen in particular, thanks for your support of this story thus far. I will not lie, the only reason I decided to rewrite instead of waiting for repairs is because someone out there actually cares enough to review as the chapters go along and I felt like giving an update before too much time passed. Unfortunately too much time _has_ passed, none the less I hope _someone_ is reading this chapter.

Now as for there being no way out for our good guys, well that's what makes the story exciting . . . I hope.


	29. Champions

**Part Nine  
****Champions**

Loki strolled into the lair and for the first time he was confronted by both his brother and his father, as well as Skadi.

Skadi, he noticed had a scar down the center of her face . . . he hadn't noticed in her human guise because she wore the hood over her face as a true Hooded One would, however now in her true body . . .

He smiled at the sight, now he could call her Scar Face.

"Ah, the family . . . how quaint. How are you, how are you and what the blazes happened to your face?" Loki asked cheerfully.

Odin and Skadi were very quiet. But good old Thor could always be counted on to lend his voice . . . even when it wasn't wanted.

"Where have you been?" Thor demanded, "Have you any idea how dangerous it's been lately?"

"No." Loki shrugged, "I've not been in any danger. I mean . . ." Loki looked around and leaned towards Thor as if he were about to tell him a well guarded secret, "I'm a dragon." He whispered.

Thor roared loudly, and Loki decided it'd be best to take his true form, just in case Thor's explosive temper erupted.

Really Loki was weaker than Thor anyway, but he certainly didn't want to look it as well.

Humans were so weak.

"The castle nearly fell tonight." Odin said calmly. "I've been sensing things through the dreaming. Frightening things."

"Really?" Loki gasped in surprise, "Why . . . that sounds terrible!"

"There are beings of incredible power on the field now." Odin explained slowly, keeping his half closed eyes on Loki, "Another Veni-Yan Kari has emerged, still more are turning."

Good. That'd keep Odin from noticing _her_ turning.

"My son . . . do you realize what it is you have done? What you have truly done?"

Loki spread his clawed hands wide, "Enlighten me."

How much did Father Odin know? How much had he guessed?

How much would Loki get away with?

"You brought gargoyles to Atheia, and for what? For what purpose? What did you hope to accomplish?"

Loki knew there was no point denying it, he'd been too young then to know how to cover his tracks properly back then. "I thought old Queen Magnolia was lonely with nobody around, so I let her find the Gargoyle eggs."

"You stole eggs from different clans across the world." Odin said.

"Didn't want any inbreeding." Loki shrugged.

"But their parents!" Thor said.

"Probably didn't notice. They don't acknowledge their familial ties." Loki shrugged the look on Thor's face suggested that he too would like to ignore familial ties.

Loki agreed wholeheartedly. His mother must have been a real live wire because his father and brother were incredibly _boring_.

"You brought new humans to this place, opening portals to your hearts content, stealing them from their time lines in what I can only see as a poorly thought out effort to recolonize the kingdom." Odin continued.

Actually it had been and still was brilliant. It wasn't his fault if his father didn't see why! He held his tongue, Odin still wasn't certain that it had been Loki who'd done this, he knew. Ever since the fall wild portals had been opening up all over Atheia, Loki had just stabilized some of them for a few moments to get the desired results, really it could have been a natural occurrence . . . though that wasn't likely there was nothing Odin could do to prove otherwise, Loki _could_ cover his tracks now.

"You've been seen in the castle by your brother–who confesses–" Odin said, raising a claw to silence Loki's impending outburst, "to entering the castle as well."

"What's wrong with looking after my little project?" Loki asked. "Since you know I'm responsible for the gargoyles, and assuming I really am responsible for the humans."

Odin lowered his eyes, "Many things. First, and most importantly, you've taken on with a human woman."

"Never touched her!" Loki cried quickly, pretending to be surprised. In truth Skadi knew, Thor knew, he'd assumed from the start that one of them had told Odin.

"Then you have become infatuated with a human. And to your shame," Odin said, his eyes glowing with an inner fire, "you allowed her on this night to come to harm."

Loki missed a step, but wasn't thrown off his march. This was not what he was expecting to hear from Odin.

"I . . . did what?" Loki blinked.

"The woman, the one you brought here from Japan, the daughter of the man now trapped in manhattan and the woman who was devoured by rat creatures. She was gravely injured."

Loki knew that! But . . . but she was okay, she'd even cast a spell, so it wasn't like . . . "How is this my fault?" Loki snapped, smoke beginning to rise from his nostrils in a deliberate act to seem hurt and confused.

In truth Loki was intrigued. Where _was_ his father going with this.

"Skadi is battle worn and weary, I am ancient and old. It was always our intention that when the thousand years passed and the Atheians awoke . . . that they have dragon guardians."

Oh no.

"This is why I kept you and your brother here on the surface while the rest of our kind went into the earth, so that in time you could become guardians of the castle . . . why I did not send the gargoyle eggs back, why I allowed your humans to take up residence as well. All this time I believed that you were playing to your natural instincts and protecting the castle."

Odin's lazy expression became fierce, "I had hoped to spare you this fate until you were old enough, until the true awakening. Loki, Thor . . . I name you both my successors. I name you the guardians of Castle Thorn and the Atheian people."

Oh bloody stars no!

"I give you permission now . . . to reveal your true selves to the Atheians, and swear fealty to Queen Thorn Harvestar."

"What of Queen Violet?" Thor asked suddenly.

"Thorn is the senior queen, and the wiser soul. Swear to her and her blood line, and you will be swearing to Violet as well. But take her advice over Violet's."

Thor calmed, Loki was thinking.

At high speed.

He smiled, oh this wasn't so bad after all . . . if he played his cards right. The look Skadi gave him told him that she did not agree.

"You now, no longer need to remain an observer when your heart tells you to fight. Are you pleased Thor?" Odin asked calmly.

Thor nodded once, his great fiery red mane seemed somehow doused which meant he was, for the first time in nearly a hundred years, unsure of himself.

Loki smirked, his plans weren't complicated at all by this, in fact his father had just made it_ easier_ for him, assuming a few little things could be snapped into place.

"You now have permission to protect your 'project' as you call it, as well as the young woman you admire. Are you pleased Loki?" Odin asked with the slightest bit of tension in his voice.

Loki smiled widely, "Oh yeh–" he paused.

The portal!

If that annoying book worm had figured out that it was dragon sealed–and of course he would–then he would probably want Thor or Loki to break the seal on it and let them out! It'd all be over!

He looked at Thor and a dark and twisted thought came to his mind, his smile became a wicked sneer without his even noticing it, "Oh _yes_ father. I am pleased indeed."

**

* * *

**

Goliath nodded slowly as Grund explained what he had in mind. "Every year in winter time we here have festival, during festival are all kinds of feasting and are all kinds of shows."

Goliath nodded again, he followed so far.

"During festival is Tournament of Champions, during Tournament we River Clan always come last."

Goliath felt he knew where this was going. "Do you really?" He asked in a guarded tone.

Grund held up a pair of beefy hands, "Stone Skin he say our clan weakest, he insult me, he insult my queen, he use real blade and real force on our warriors, no cause death but make plenty injury." Grund's eyes glowed, "Hims sons strong too, evil is they, Canyon Clan all evil is, but no more proud Stone Skin maybe less evil."

"What is it that you want exactly? You want Goliath to get into the ring with this guy so your clan can be on top?" Elisa scoffed.

Grund snorted, "Would not be River Clan, would be Manhattan Clan on top if win Goliath does. But pride of Stone Skin Goliath take away, maybe work together better two clans can." Grund explained.

Oh! Well . . . that really didn't seem like such a bad thing. Goliath nodded a third time, "I will consider it."

"Wait . . ." Grund said, "Decide now, see sword, see armor we give!"

Goliath smiled benevolently, "I would aid the cause of peace between your two clans without asking for presents."

"Fight better you would with river gear." Grund reminded Goliath.

Goliath nodded once, "I will consider it. For now I want to be with my clan, to know they are safe and to discuss with them the things that they have encountered during my absence. Surely you understand."

The enormous Gargoyle nodded. "Of course. Grund understands perfectly. Let Grund take you to place where old one is, Grund knows for Grund is clever."

Goliath was willing to give Grund the benefit of the doubt on this, he'd been there when Hudson had said he'd be where the comfortable chairs were . . . hadn't he? So obviously this king who seemed no stranger to creature comforts, knew where that would be.

Elisa stayed close to him, and Goliath accepted that without complaint. They'd talk with the entire clan about the offer, and decide what to do. Perhaps the others knew things that he didn't.

Certainly if Elisa felt uneasy then something was not right.

They came into the damaged courtyard, Grund pointed out at a group of gargoyles, "There see? It is Stone Skin, evil being."

Goliath looked down and saw Stone Skin, almost as massive as Goliath himself, with a sword even larger than any Goliath would think to effectively wield. With him was the queen of their clan, and an angelic looking Gargoyle who bore Stone Skin a slight resemblance.

Goliath understood his name was Alabaster, likely named for his ivory skin tone.

"Evil beings they is, their good king, King Daemon, he died, some say by Stone Skin's hands." Grund said.

"Why would Stone Skin kill his own king? To become king himself?" Elisa asked.

"He killed Daemon for Daemon's queen, him takes control of Daemon's household after King's death." Grund spat. "Stone Skin maybe wants every queen for his mate."

Goliath stopped midstep and gapped.

That wasn't possible! A gargoyle killing another gargoyle? For a mate no less? That was perversion at its worst!

"Stone Skin is evil, his sons are evil. Ask anyone not of their clan you get that answer." Grund glanced up to a battlement above them and said, "That one up there, Dark Eyes . . . him is evil most, him started war anew, murdered rat creatures he did."

There was a roar like a tiger, Goliath looked up and saw a pair of blood red eyes baring down on him!

Like lightning Dark Eyes hurtled himself from the battlement, he slammed into Grund and knocked the older gargoyle flat.

The queen of the canyon clan was there before Goliath could decide how to react to the situation, she placed a hand firmly on her warrior's shoulder and said in a commanding voice that seemed to halt Dark Eyes in his place, "Stop!"

The younger gargoyle gave her a pleading look, "He's spreading his lies, he's calling–he said that I–"

The queen's eyes flashed and she said, "I heard, I ignored. It is not right for a gargoyle to kill another gargoyle, is it?" She asked.

A significant glance passed between the two, and Dark Eyes shook his head, "No. No it isn't." He said. The queen removed her hand from his shoulder and he straightened up and exhaled slowly . . . then he sprang for Grund anyway, "But I'm not going to kill him! I'm just going to teach him a lesson!"

This time however Goliath intercepted him. He was far less gentle than the queen had been. "What Gargoyle would attack a downed opponent?" Goliath asked as he roughly held the youth.

Dark Eyes glared at him, Goliath was reminded of Thailog for a moment . . . immediately he knew Dark Eyes was not to be trusted.

"You let me go or I'll–"

"You'll do what, exactly?" Goliath asked coldly.

"Calm down brother," Alabaster said, "this fat slime is not worth the trouble, not so?"

"Decidedly so." The queen agreed.

Dark Eyes nodded once and Goliath released him. He glared at Grund and clenched a fist, and turned away. He stormed off, ignoring the crowd of humans and gargoyles that had gathered to witness.

Goliath noticed that Stone Skin was not among them, indeed the large gray gargoyle had ignored the entire event and walked away.

Grund got to his feet and shook his head mournfully, "Perhaps too much I said." He admitted.

"Decidedly so!" The queen snarled at him, "Listen here you . . . you . . . you _slime_! If you _ever_ speak of any of my clan again in such a manner I will _forget_ that it is wrong, and I will rip your throat from that bulge of fat you call a neck!" Her eyes glowed a furious red, "See. If. I. Don't." She warned, and she too left.

She was followed closely by Alabaster, who looked over his shoulder and said, "You forget who it was that saved your clan from destruction, not so? And you forget that my brother and I share almost all things, and among the things we share are enemies."

Grund snarled after the canyon clan gargoyles. Goliath was confused.

Somehow everything that had just happened went over his head. This kind of behavior . . . from gargoyles, from clan leaders no less!

Grund seemed truly repentant as he said, "Grund is clever, but not word smart, Grund forgets his tongue sometimes, Grund apologizes."

Goliath shook his head, the canyon clan might not be evil . . . but they weren't doing much to appear otherwise. Grund also, did not seem completely trustworthy.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**A/N: **Well I'm glad to know I haven't lost every reader, it'd be kind of silly to keep putting up chapters for no one to read. It is an intriguing idea to let the Original Gargoyle cast have more spotlight and make the chapters longer I suppose, so yes, yes I will allow for more time with the original gargoyles, but I'll avoid making the chapters too much longer if I can. A bit longer maybe. Longer chapters are a strain for some readers and also take longer to produce, I no longer have all of act 2 and most of act 3 finished and ready for updating, chapters are coming out when I have time to write them.

Dating . . . well I don't know, there isn't much for the gargoyles or humans to do that would be considered romantic, or even calming really, Braids' idea of a date was going out on patrol and that didn't work out so well. But I'll see what I can cook up. The solstice festival would be a great opportunity for dates . . . if they weren't going to be attacked the day it occurs.

Alas in war the villain never does take the good guys' love lives into consideration, do they?


	30. Why Cant I Do That?

**Part Ten**

**Why Cant I Do That?**

Thor walked towards the castle along with his brother, who was going about picking flowers as they went.

It was annoying, but Thor supposed it was also sort of sweet in a way. Thor watched Loki with a mask of anger at every delay, but inwardly he was repressing laughter.

The little idiot.

-----------

Loki smirked to himself as he forced his brother to stop so he could gather more flowers.

The big idiot.

"Do you think she'll like these?" Loki asked.

"How would I know?" Thor demanded roughly.

"These red ones would match her eyes."

"Her eyes aren't red!" Thor cried.

"They are when she uses her magic." Loki corrected.

"Loki, were you planning on getting to the castle _before_ it falls?" Thor asked.

"No worries brother, the rat king was severely hurt in this evening's battle, as well as the battle before, they will stay away for a time. Now tell me honestly, do you like these purple ones?"

"I . . . suppose. You know human _women_ do things like this." Thor said.

"Yes they do. Why should they have all the fun? You know how I feel about fun." Loki said, rolling his eyes at his brother.

The fact that he was picking flowers did not diminish his masculinity because masculinity didn't dominate Loki's mind.

Fun did.

Watching Thor squirm uncomfortably and question his brother's sanity as he went about collecting flowers was incredibly fun!

In fact he decided he'd start skipping too, just to see what happened.

Thor groaned and had to look away.

"I don't want them to know we're dragons." Loki said finally, getting down to business as he gathered up a few of the purple flowers.

"What?"

"I just think we could do better if we pose as castaway humans, brother. Think about it, the rats find out there's a couple of dragons in the castle . . ." Loki trailed off, letting Thor consider it.

"They'll stay away out of fear!" Thor said with a satisfied growl.

"N-no!" Loki gasped, "No you fool, they'll attack regardless of their king's condition! No, what we have to do is let them think we're just another pair of human castaways. When the battle finally comes, then we can reveal ourselves."

"What of the queen?"

Loki smirked, "We can still swear allegiance to her, I've already thought of that." He said, plucking a lovely white flower as well. He examined his collection and nodded with satisfaction. He stored them away magically, with a little puff they disappeared and would not return until he called them.

Now he cast another spell, needing no words since he was a dragon, and his human disguise changed.

His fair face became a little older, a little harder, he took on the appearance of a man who had not shaved in days, his clothing became medieval and torn, one pants leg was ripped as if by a rat creature's claw.

He held out his hand and a sword appeared. He'd put a bit of effort into this one, though he could summon up a sword for his own personal use at any time such swords disappeared whenever he no longer needed them, or when they left his grasp, this one became a true and real sword. Not magical, but of relatively good craftsmanship, incredible craftsmanship really, if Loki had anything to say about it.

He smiled at Thor, "Sir Koil, at your service. Shipwrecked Knight of England. Don't you see? This way we can swear loyalty, knights do that all the time I've heard. No one living in that castle is from England, they cant question us, and this way we keep our secret."

Thor smirked and took up a new form. He was a tough looking human man with more muscle than Loki felt was really necessary. He was about six and a half feet tall, had long blonde hair and wore an outfit similar to Loki's own. However when he held out his hand the weapon that appeared was a great hammer.

Seemed fitting really.

"Sir Roth, at your service." Thor grinned. "I assume we'll be telling the queen?"

"Not at all. Neither queen needs to know," Koil said, sheathing his sword and walking off towards the castle, "If we tell them they'll only want us to use our power before due time and we'll end up revealing ourselves."

"What about your little human friend?" Roth asked. "How will she recognize you?"

Loki smirked. The good thing would be that she, and anyone else to ever see his preferred human face, would _not_ recognize him.

And they wouldn't have to open any portals.

"Just one more thing Th--I mean Roth. It takes a lot of dreaming energy to change your body to a human."

"I'd noticed." Roth said dryly.

"Well it makes us kind of obvious to anyone looking through the dreaming. So we'll have to cast a spell of shadows."

"Spell of shadows?" Roth frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"It's a spell that covers our dreaming forms in fog," Koil said, wisely avoiding the word 'mist' just as Baldur had, though his sharp mind had already made the connection he doubted Thor had the mental prowess to do so as well. "It douses our energy, keeping it a secret from anyone looking."

It was a spell Baldur had taught him after the Veni-Yan assassins had come for them during the battle.

"I cannot cast a spell like that." Thor said.

"I can." Koil assured him. "It's very simple, I'll show you sometime. But never take your true form without me around to cast this on you once your change back, all right?"

"I suppose." Roth frowned.

"Don't worry, I've thought this through." Koil said.

"That's why I worry." Roth smirked.

Koil grinned, "Well my good sir knight, shall we make our way to the castle Thorn?"

"What about your spell?" Roth asked.

"Done. It was finished by the time I got done telling you it was simple." Koil shrugged.

"Oh . . . well all right then. Off to Castle Thorn."

"And Queen Thorn!" Koil agreed. "Brother, who names their daughter Thorn?"

"Well her mother's name was Moonwart."

"Ah, never mind. Thorn is better." Koil said, and the two dragons disguised as men made their way to the castle.

-----------

Akruda sat, wings wrapped around herself like a cape, she was thinking quietly to herself. Taneal and a few other children were playing nearby, up to nonsense assuming they were unsupervised just because Akruda's eyes were closed.

She could hear them well enough, and in a way she could even see them. They simply failed to dominate her mind, let children be children, there were bigger things to worry about.

The situation was becoming dire, the clans were falling apart.

Grund was letting a silly misunderstanding go too far out of control while his own pride controlled him, Methuselah was too busy being superior to everyone else to take charge, Tigris was mentally unfit for leadership, and Akruda's own queen was . . .

Akruda scowled at the thought. The little brat, just who did she think she was? Did she actually think she was improving matters? Taneal and the others had witnessed their queen's "brave" confrontation with Grund and when Taneal told her of the entire situation Akruda had laughed darkly.

Threatening Grund? Akruda knew that the queen was protective of her warriors but Dark Eyes had been out of line in striking a superior no matter what was said, he should have been scolded, not defended.

Daemon would have been able to sort everything out. Grund had kept his grudge with Stone Skin, but also kept quiet about it while Daemon was in power. Daemon had kept his queen in line. Daemon had kept Methuselah interested in the fate of the clans.

Whether it was rat creatures, or the humans, whomever had killed Daemon had, in reality, killed the very heart of what kept the clans from waging war on each other. The fact that an army was almost always at their gates was just about the only thing that kept them from doing so now.

Akruda thought darkly that if her queen did not show herself to be worthy of the position she might have to take that title away. The _brat_ was queen only because Daemon had fallen for her charms after his former mate had died, without Daemon she'd still be _nothing_. And _nothing_ gave her the right to verbally abuse, or promise to physically abuse an actual king from a blood line ordained by Queen Magnolia herself before age took her.

Akruda sighed. A little more time. If the queen did not shape up she would have to remove her. Daemon had seen something in her, so she deserved a chance.

But so far Akruda was wondering what it was exactly that Daemon had seen in this younger female. Had it been a competent queen, or merely lust? She liked to think that Daemon, a shining pillar of physical strength had possessed the _moral_ strength to be above such things, but everyone had their little vices.

Her mind came to Prince Brooklyn, who so resembled Daemon. Was Daemon's spirit in that one? Could he become the king of the canyon clan?

Was he sent by the spirits above to guide them?

Determining the answer might require quite a bit of meditation.

If Brooklyn took her advice and allowed Stone Skin to train him . . . perhaps a bit of Daemon could evoke inside of Brooklyn. Stone Skin, who had known Daemon so well, would recognize it.

If so that would be all the sign Akruda would need. She'd move right away to remove the unworthy from power and give that power to Brooklyn.

Yes that brat might just come to regret giving Daemon's armor and sword to the Manhattan youth. But at least that time she'd been right in thinking she was doing something good for her clan.

She looked at Taneal, noble born of a noble king and queen. She, or her elder sister Danica should be the queen of the clan now.

Even if Brooklyn was not worthy, one of them might be . . . it was something to consider.

If only Daemon had not fallen.

-----------

Thorn frowned when she looked down at the woman she understood to be her grand daughter.

Violet was older than her, perhaps not by much but none the less the difference was there.

It just didn't feel natural, Thorn didn't even know who her eventual husband was, didn't even have an idea or a guess!

She was tempted to ask Violet, but that'd be cheating. Besides she'd apparently lived out her life and died of old age in her own time, so there didn't seem to be any reason to go back.

Not until Atheia was safe at least.

"So what's to be done about the gates?" Thorn asked.

"Well . . . I don't know." Violet admitted.

"What has the headmaster come up with?" Thorn asked.

"If my fool of a cousin has come up with anything, he hasn't told me." Violet said and began to walk off.

"Where are you going?"

"To my throne room. It's about time we called a council session."

"Over the gates?"

"Well yes. But we do this every night." Violet said.

Thorn raised her eyebrows, "Every night? You mean every night you gather for council meetings when there's work to be done?"

"Ruling a kingdom _is_ work." Violet said.

"Yes, but while you're having your little get together you could be--"

"Whatever." Violet yawned, "_You _go do that, whatever it is. I'll handle the council."

Thorn frowned, she'd wanted to suggest that the council members actually help to repair the gates instead of just talking about it while their 'underlings' did it for them.

But, like Violet said, whatever. Thorn would help, put her shoulder to the grind and actually _do _something.

She headed for the gates when suddenly she was intercepted by her grandson.

"Headmaster." Thorn said, stepping back and refusing to let her surprise show.

The headmaster was hooded again, but she could tell it was him because of the uniform. He raised his hand in salute and said "My queen."

"Have you solved the gate issue?" Thorn asked.

"Yes."

"Okay . . ." Thorn said, when it didn't seem like he'd go into further detail she said, "How?"

The headmaster sighed, and moved his hands about for a moment. Suddenly a little model of the castle appeared, in front of it was a ruined city, behind it a long thick river.

The headmaster moved his model around so that Thorn could see the gates that faced the river, "The rats cannot attack us from this side. That gate serves no purpose, I will remove it and place it at the front, then reinforce it with the remains of the original gate if I can."

"Okay . . . but doesn't that just leave a great big gate sized hole at our rear?"

"No. The drawbridge there acts as a second gate, it's weaker and easier to break than the gate we'll be removing, but they would need a battering ram to do so, the rats cannot allocate enough troops to the far side of the river, let alone create a ram. Winter is coming and the water will be deadly cold, though not cold enough to freeze over. The rats will have no way of reaching the back door, and I have no intention of allowing the front to fall again."

"What will you do to stop it?" Thorn asked.

"Whatever I must." The headmaster said, sweeping his black gloved hand through the little shadow model in a motion that vaguely reminded Thorn of a beast ripping its claws through its prey.

She wondered why that image came to her then. There was the faintest buzzing sound when he did it.

"Well then I suppose you're going to propose your plan to the council?" Thorn asked.

"No." The headmaster said calmly. "I've already given the order, it's being done. I have other matters to attend."

"Really?" Thorn asked with narrowed eyes. "Do you have time to share a brief word with me?"

"I believed that was what I was doing already. Alas, if the queen insists on wasting _more_ of my time . . ."

"She insists." Thorn said calmly but firmly.

"What else do you require?" The headmaster sighed.

Thorn put her hands on her hip, or rather appeared to do so as she put one hand close to her sword. "Take off your hood."

"Again?"

"Take it off."

The headmaster frowned, and she saw it because he complied. Black rings seemed to be forming around his fair eyes, his pale yellow hair was turning even whiter, and he seemed somehow even more pale.

She'd spoken to him less than an hour before!

"Anything else?" He asked.

Thorn reached out to place her hands on his cheeks, but like lightning his hands came up and gripped her wrists, stopping them inches from his face. "I'd prefer if you didn't touch me."

"Have you got something to hide?" Thorn asked.

"I dislike being touched." Leif said calmly.

His grip was ridiculously strong. He shoved her hands away and said, "Really it's inappropriate, simply reaching out for someone's face without their permission. How would you like it," He said, removing his glove, "If I . . . did it to you!" His hand jabbed forward, striking Thorn between the eyes.

An overwhelming darkness filled her spirit, she heard a distant buzzing, she felt cold as if she were standing in a ghost circle, and for the briefest of moments she thought she really _was_ inside of one.

But then her hands shot up, she grabbed the headmaster by the wrist, searing pain shot through her hand, like a moon less night, cold and dark the very light of the room seemed to disappear, the buzz became stronger.

Thorn looked into the eyes of her grandson. They weren't his eyes.

At least not the eyes she'd expect from someone she'd never met before tonight, because they were eyes she'd looked into before.

They were Briar's eyes, the eyes of the Hooded One, the eyes of one who had lost themselves to The Lord of Locusts.

Thorn steeled her will, she'd not be overwhelmed by the darkness! She met his glare and gripped his wrist tighter, were he a normal man the bones in his arm would have begun to break.

Slowly she focused, could she remove the piece of the Lord of Locusts?

Surely it was only a piece, it could not possibly be the entire spirit!

She shuddered, cold darkness swept through her . . . and a swarm of locusts swept out of the headmaster's sleeve.

They covered her, biting her, ripping her apart!

She closed her eyes and fell back, screaming as if she were dying.

She knew it wasn't real.

What did he take her for?

Her hands released their grip, and he retracted his hand from her head.

She collapsed and closed her eyes.

"Sleep." He said calmly. "Sleep until this is over. For when it is we will be free . . . and nothing you do will matter."

Thorn pretended to sleep and listened as the headmaster stomped down the hallway, away from her.

'Got'cha!' She thought. Her hand flew to her sword's hilt, and she opened her eyes!

And found herself staring into his. "Got'cha." He said calmly, and lightly, almost gently, pressed a finger against her forehead.

And she slept, cold darkness claiming her, nightmares overtaking her.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**W/N:** Heh-heh, threw a little bit in there to make the clans seem further divided. United clans . . . well maybe they'll learn with enough time and a good example of clan unity?

I remember being happier with this chapter originally, before I lost it I mean. The fight between the Lord of Locusts and Thorn took a bit more provocation, however here I just cut to the point because frankly everyone reading knows it isn't Leif, Thorn knows it isn't Leif, I didn't see why they should spend two or three pages pretending they're friends as they do orriginally, so that his eventual attack can catch her off guard.

I didn't want to go too deeply into Thorn's attempt to extract the Lord from Leif, I also failed to explain why she'd try to do so, I'm saving the former for her nightmares, and the latter for when she wakes up.

I added the scene with Akruda, which actually came a few chapters later originally, during one of Brooklyn's chapters, as a way to help readers with getting to know the original character cast, or rather the original character gargoyles, as requested. Here we hint that the canyon queen is not actually supported by some members of her own clan. We also show that Akruda, the mother of The Twins and the mate of Stone Skin, has some slightly confused views, values noble blood but would promote Brooklyn over their clan's two noble born princesses in an instant.

Maybe I can get back on track with updating twice a week . . .


	31. Out From Atheia

**Part Eleven  
****Out From Atheia**

Fone Bone yawned as a lazy cloud passed overhead, "At laest there's shade this time." He said.

"At least there's lots of three day old hard little bread things." Smiley commented.

"Yeah, more like three **week** old already! Didn't the dragon say we'd get back to Boneville in a few days?" Phoney Bone demanded.

"He might've said weeks." Fone Bone pointed out.

"Well nothing looks familiar." Phoney scoffed.

"It's a desert Phoney, _everything_ looks familiar." Fone Bone said dryly.

"But nothing looks like **home**!" Phoney specified.

Fone Bone considered that. What was really home?

He wanted to be in Boneville . . . but three weeks out and he was already missing Atheia . . . and Thorn. He'd thought he might talk Phoney into building a road to Atheia though, so he could visit . . .

Didnt seem like it was going to happen. They'd have to get back to Boneville first.

"_Hey Fone Bone,_" the young Rat Creature riding along in the back of the hay cart piped up, "_Is _that_ Boneville_?"

Fone Bone put his hands over his eyes and peered off into the distance in the direction that Bartleby, the Rat Creature was pointing.

It was some kind of mass of darkness in the distance . . . it might be a skyline . . .

"Boneville! Sweet, sweet Boneville!" Phoney cried, "C'mon cuz, get this wagon movin' already!" He said, grabbing the reigns from Fone Bone and whipping up the cows.

"Yaw! Yaw hos'!" Smiley cried.

"They're cows." Fone Bone pointed out lamely, and leaned back as his two excited cousins drove their little hay cart back towards Boneville with all the speed a pair of cows who'd been out in the desert for three weeks pulling along a haycart containing a pile of hay, three Bone cousins, a young Rat Creature, and about fifteen treasure chests full of rock hard stale bread, could muster.

----------

**Some Hundreds of Years Later . . .**

Leif strolled leisurely into the library. How long had it been? How long since it had been a beautiful place full of stacks, and stacks of books? How long since he'd read scroll after scroll, tome after tome, learned story after story and spell after spell from this place under the watchful eye of his master?

Hiromi had learned to use her powers in this very place, before the city fell to the rats, she'd read through the stacks as he had over two hundred and twelve years ago with the same if not greater enthusiasm.

How he wished they could have read them together . . .

_Shut up._

What? Had he just told himself to shut up?

_There's work to be done._ He thought to himself. He looked at the two young ones with him. Almasy and the gargoyle Lexington stood on either side of him.

He had no faith now. No faith that this was his own plan.

No power now. No power to stop it.

And no understanding. No understanding of why he should, for this plan would most certainly help in the irradication of the dragons.

_Our goals are not so different. We both seek to destroy our enemy._ He said to himself.

Or someone said in his head.

But after what happened to Thorn . . . she wasn't an enemy.

"Stand there." He said to Almasy.

"What do I do?" The young man asked.

"Nothing." Leif said calmly. "Just stand there."

"What about me?" Lexington asked.

Leif smirked under his hood, "There, by that book case."

The two young ones complied, and Leif took up his position.

They were not forming a triangle, but a straight line.

A triangle would balance the power between the three of them better . . . but that wasnt what Leif, or whoever it was calling the shots wanted.

_We'll have _all_ the power_!

----------

Fone Bone began to slowly frown . . . that was no skyline.

It was . . . like some kind of black mist, or fog.

"Phoney . . ."

"Yeah?" The eldest cousin demanded.

"I . . . I dont think that's Boneville . . ." Fone Bone said.

"It could be the power plant." Phoney said.

"I think we should turn back." Smiley said.

"Just a little closer, I want to make sure! It could be Boneville, and we'd turn away from it and get lost in the desert _again_ just because there's a little air polution!" Phoney said, whipping the cows onward.

In just a few more moments of travel however Fone Bone knew what it was before he could properly see it.

Because he could hear it.

The deep buzz of millions of locusts flying towards them.

"PHONEY!" He and Smiley both screamed!

----------

Leif stretched an arm out in the direction of both Almasy and Lex, drawing on their power as well as his own.

He looked at the spot in the center of the library where the statue of Thorn once stood. It'd gone somewhere . . . no matter.

He roared the words to his spell, _Terel Folath, Karel Folath, Iskai Kad'e Dizreet!_

A swarm of locusts errupted from his sleeves-when the blazes had he gathered so many?-and began to spin around in a circle where the statue had once been, forming a ball. Violet light filled the room and the ball of locusts suddenly exploded!

----------

Fone Bone leaned over and snatched the reigns from his cousin, but Phoney was already turning the wagon around.

It didnt matter, the locust swarm was coming at them too quickly!

They whipped the poor cows for all they were worth, Bartleby began to hiss with fear as the swarm of Locusts drew nearer!

And it struck them like a hammer in the back of the head!

Or like a gigantic living tidal wave! The cart literally upturned and Fone Bone felt himself go flying!

He was flying through Locusts!

"_Euch_! _Whatever you do, dont stick out your tongue_! _Ptoo_!" Bartleby moaned miserably.

"We know! We know!" Smiley cried, "Pt-ptoo!"

Yeah. They knew. This had happened before.

And they'd ended up seperated, each eventually finding their way into the valley where they'd had their adventure.

Fone Bone wasnt up for another adventure, and he didnt want to be seperated from his cousins again.

He closed his eyes and when he could no longer repress his scream he felt himself descending . . .

And he broke through the locusts!

He opened his eyes to make sure, he was flying through the air of a dark room like a bullet!

He slammed into someone in a hood!

----------

The swarm of Locusts exploded appart, bugs flying every which way as some weird little white thing shot out of the mass and into Almasy!

"Oof!" Almasy groaned as that weird something white slammed into him, knocking him out of the line.

"No!" Leif, or the being controlling him screamed, "No! We need more power!"

Suddenly standing in place became a bad idea, both for Leif and the being inside of him as a huge hay cart rolled out of the swarm as well!

Leif dropped and rolled out of the way, then something white slammed into him!

He rolled and slammed into a book case, he groaned and opened his eyes, vision slightly blurred.

Something weird, tall and white was laying on him, It got up, adjusted its had and took a puff of its cigar, "This sure aint Boneville." It said.

Then, since turnabout was fair play, something white slammed into it.

But it's head slammed forward into Leif's before he could take any satisfaction in what had, just a milisecond ago, seemed like justice.

"Bloody Stars!" He groaned as he hit his head again.

There was a distressed moo and then Lexington cried, "A rat creature!"

Leif, temporarily in control of himself again shoved the two white creatures off of him and drew his . . .

Where was Shadow Edge?

Where was Wraith Conjurer?

He had no sword! Hadn't he thought to claim a new one? Hadn't he thought to demand Shadow Edge back?

He looked around for a weapon, any weapon, a rat creature in the library?

He looked at the little white things, maybe he could use them as weapons . . .

Hey . . . that one with the black shirt, with the golden star in the middle . . .

He looked a lot like . . .

Leif gasped.

Why had the being inside of him cast a spell to summon its enemies? For if the being inside of him was truly the Lord of Locusts-which would explain the afinity for the disgusting bugs-then it stood to gain nothing by summoning the Bone Cousins.

Maybe it really _had_ been his plan?

Why would he think of something so outrageous?

The Locusts were sucked into their own portal, Leif thought 'good ridance' and hoped it was the last he'd ever see of them.

Faintly he heard a voice whisper in his mind, _more . . . power_

And he knew he was wrong. It was still there. Whatever it was that was wrong with him, it was still wrong with him.

But it was weak now.

So maybe he had time . . .

_Time for what, exactly?_ The voice demanded, strong and full of force.

Bloody stars. There was no escape.

_Escape? Escape from what? From knowledge? From immortality? From **power**?_

Leif slumped, and noticed that it was he who did so, though when his lips began to move it was not of his will. "Well well . . . it looks like my little spell worked."

"What the heck is this?" Almasy screamed as he shoved the Bone known as Fone away from him. "It's like some freaky little ghost!"

"Nobody calls my cousin a freakly little ghost but me!" Phoney Bone said, standing up while still on the collapsed Smiley Bone's back, and stomping over to Almasy, "And who're you? All dressed up like some Veni-Yan . . ." Phoney stopped speaking, closed his eyes and then pointed an accusing finger at Fone Bone instead, "Alright lover boy, I know y'missed Thorn but turning the wagon around and taking us _back_ to Atheia? Are you off yer rocker?"

"But I didnt take us back!" Fone Bone protested, getting up and looking a little woozy.

"Oh yeah, the just started training hooded warriors in Boneville for kicks!" Phoney scoffed.

"Calm down!" Leif said, raising his hands. "Calm down . . . now let me explain . . ." Leif said, eager himself to hear it.

"We need to stop the dragons that are plauging this castle . . . so we've summoned the legendary dragon slayer . . . Phoncible P. Bone."

The one who so resembled the statue in the treasure room, the one who must have been Fone Bone groaned, shaking hised head to clear it.

"Where's Phoney? Where is he? I'm gonna strangle him! What have you gotten us into this time?"

"Me? But they summoned us, it's not my fault!" Phoney cried, leaping behind Smiley.

"What about the swarm of Locusts?" Smiley Bone asked as he held his arms out seperating his two much shorter cousins.

"Swarm or what?" Leif asked innocently.

"The locusts, the locusts that were just in this room, they were _everywhere_!" Almasy cried.

"Oh yes." Leif shrugged. "Yes . . . what about them?"

"_Locusts arent usually a good thing._" Bartleby said.

_You know nothing, traitor!_ Leif thought, but he smiled-not that it mattered, he was hooded-and said "Well never mind that. You're here now. We need you. You're heroes of Atheia . . . and we need you." He said to Fone and Bartleby. "You're the dragon slayer, we need you." He told Phoney. "You're . . ." He really couldnt think of anything for Smiley, "a brave guardian and curageous soul . . . we need you too."

Leif spread his arms and said, "Welcome to Atheia, Bone Cousins and Bartleby. Or should I say welcome to the future, as it's been three or four hundred years since you helped save Atheia . . . give or take a decade or two . . . really records are kind of sketchy from that time . . . and the library . . . has seen better days. None the less welcome."

"You guys still using gold, or you got a barter system going like the townsfolk?" Phoney asked, straightening out his shirt.

"A little of both. Mostly gold." Leif said.

"Ah, well then it's not all bad. I can make s'more coins with my face on 'em, Smiley took all the others."

"No, you _paid_ me for the bread things." Smiley said.

"Whatever, so where's this dragon that needs slaying?" Phoney asked.

Fone glared at him, "Oh yeah, I forgot how much _experience_ you have with dragons."

"Not a word." Phoney said, waving his cousin's annoyance away, "I clearly have more experience than any of these poor bumpkins, and I'm sure once I perform my duty to them they'll certainly be kind enough to zip us back home . . . with a cart full of gold." Phoney said, rubbing his hands together greedily.

The headmaster smiled eviliy, they wouldnt see it. He said "We already know you never actually _killed_ a dragon." He said.

"Y'mean they recorded **that** little detail in history too?" Phoney sighed.

"But you captured one . . . and that's what we need. The successful capture of a dragon . . . alive." Leif said.

But what could the being controling him possibly want with a dragon?

Alive?

Leif wanted them dead of course, the evil ones anyway.

But what did his alter ego want?

_More power!_ came the answer.

Leif didn't have to suppress his shudder . . . since he had no control of his body.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**W/N: **Finally the Bones are in Atheia . . . again. Why would the Lord of Locusts want to summon them? What could he possibly have in mind?


	32. We've done What?

**Part Twelve**

**We've done What?**

Lexington examined the funny looking Bone creatures carefully, they were all bald and completely white, like paper. One was tall, had a derby and a cigar, he wore a brown vest. The other two were short, one had a black shirt with a star on the chest, and an annoyed look on his face, the other had no shirt at all. They all had really big noses.

They looked harmless, Lexington couldnt see them being much help against a dragon. "So they're really from the past?"

"Yes." The headmaster said.

"And you brought them here?" Lexington asked.

"Yes." The headmaster said.

"Why cant you send someone to the future, I mean to my time?"

"It was a summoning spell, I summoned a specific person to my location and did so only by building a conduit between the three of us. In the end we failed too, and ended up with a larger number than we expected, showing you just how dangerous and unpredictable this spell is."

"Then why'd you use it?" Almasy demanded.

"Because I'm desperate." The headmaster said calmly.

"Yeah, well you could'a killed me and my cousins, desperate guy." The Bone with the black shirt with a gold star on the chest said.

"But I didn't, you're safe and well . . . or as well as can be in this castle anyway." The headmaster said.

"And what's this about dragons?" The tall one with the brown vest asked.

"Well first introductions are in order," The headmaster said, "This is Sir Drinian Almasy of Atheia, and Sir Lexington of the Manhattan Clan, I am Leif Harvestar, Headmaster of Atheia and Castle Thorn."

"Good for you, buddy. Now you mentioned dragons?" Star shirt demanded.

"Quiet Phoney!" The one without any shirt said, "Did you say Castle _Thorn_?"

"Yes, this castle was built and named after the first queen of the fully restored kingdom, Thorn Harvestar."

"And you're a Harvestar?" The Bone cousin asked.

"Yes. Thorn is my grand mother."

"Is she here?" The Bone asked excitedly.

"Yes actually." The headmaster said, sounding a little annoyed, "But if you'd just listen-"

"Wow! Thorn's here! I have to see her!" The Bone said.

"Fone, Fone, Fone," Phoney said, shaking his head and putting an arm around his cousins's shoulder, "Didnt you hear him? She's his _grandmother_."

Fone Bone shrugged, "So?"

"So she's old, _and _married. Besides even if she's aged with _twice_ the grace of Gran'ma Ben she'll still be a hideous old bat, so I say we steer clear of her!"

"Now, now cousins, you're losin' focus here." The tall one said, "We're introducin' ourselves to our hosts. I'm Smiley Bone, the loud mouth is Phoney, the love bird is Fone, and this strapping young fella is **Bartleby**!" Smiley said, indicating the Rat Creature.

Lexington said "I didn't know Rat Creatures had names like Bartleby!"

"Well . . . Smiley named him." Fone said.

"Look at 'im, don'e jez _look_ like a Bartleby?"

"Smiley, _nothing_ looks like, or deserves to be called a Bartleby!" Phoney said.

"It beats my name." Almasy scoffed.

Lexington shook his head, "But . . . he's a rat creature."

"So?" Smiley asked.

"How're we going to get him back to the castle?"

"He'll come with us, I'll cast a shadow spell over him, he'll look like a regular Veni-Yan soldier." The headmaster said.

Lexington sighed in relief. He didnt want this rat creature to be harmed, since Bartleby seemed quite friendly.

"_Why would I have to be disgusied to get into the castle_?" Bartleby asked.

"Because if you werent you'd probably be shot." The headmaster said mournfully, "I'm afraid we're at war with the rat creatures . . . again."

"You guys sure do know how to keep friendships strong." Phoney scoffed.

The headmaster laughed bitterly and said "Yes well we've just survived a massive attack, the guards are going to be on edge."

"_Sorry but . . . what are you_?" Bartleby asked, and Lexington didnt have to use his powers as a super genius to know the rat creature was referring to him.

"I'm a gargoyle, we've been fighting alongside the Atheians, but your kind call us half-dragons."

"_Oh. Well if you're half dragon can't you just ask the dragons to stop causing trouble_?_ Why do you need the _"dragon slayer"_ to come and capture one for you_?"

"Because we're not _really_ half-dragon, the rat creatures just call us that." Lexington shrugged. "I'd never even seen an Atheian dragon."

"_Oh. Well I guess _that _plan's out._" Bartleby frowned. "

"Who cares? I'm the dragon slayer after all!" Phoney said with a sneer.

"Dragon _trapper_ actually . . . and the Great Red Dragon walked into your trap on purpose Phoney." Fone Bone pointed out.

"Don't trouble me with details, Fone. Now that we're here," Phoney said, rolling up his sleeves, "we might as well make ourselves useful."

------

Goldenrose looked at what had once been the beautiful gardens.

The gardens themselves were not wholly destroyed, but they were damaged.

The stain of blood however, and the stench of it was everywhere, and Rose was not sure she'd ever feel the same in this place.

Of course she was not sure she'd feel the same about a lot of things. She'd never fought in a battle before, she was far too important and delicate for such work, but she'd fought tonight.

Well . . . really she hadn't fought, she'd had a brief scuffle with a strange monster, then been injured.

But why bother?

She didn't know.

But she felt good about it, and that counted for something . . . didn't it?

"Darling," Alabaster said, coming in from behind her and putting a hand on her shoulder, "I know you loved the gardens . . . it really is a shame."

"Isn't it though?" Rose sighed. The gardens werent what bothered her really. She turned to Alabaster, "If I wanted to become a warrior, would you teach me to fight?" She asked.

"Of course not!" Alabaster laughed.

"Why not?" Goldenrose asked. "Why can I not fight to defend the kingdom?"  
"Because it's not worth defending." The ivory skinned gargoyle scoffed. "Look around you, a ruined castle, desperate humans, weary gargoyles, stains of blood that will never be lifted, a destroyed garden of course . . ."

Goldenrose frowned. "No." She said.

"No?" Alabaster raised an eyebrow.

"No. I don't see any of that. I see my home, the place that I was born, the place my children will be born someday, I see brave and valiant soldiers standing on the walls, dedicated husbands and wives doing all they can for their families, innocent children at play, and gardens that will be regrown and rebuilt."

Alabaster laughed, and patted Goldenrose on the shoulder, "You're such a silly girl, I supose you've taken some kind of medicine for that wing? You're not seeing clearly. Poetic though, I'll return tomorrow evening, when you've recovered."

Goldenrose was dumbstruck by that response.

It was not as if it were unlike Alabaster . . . it was her own response that had startled her.

But so what? Let him think she was silly. She knew better.

She looked at the gardens . . . they could be regrown, they could become beutiful again.

Preserving just a bit of beauty in this harsh world . . . wasn't that worth fighting for?

So then she'd fight. If Alabaster didn't want her to learn to fight properly she'd go over his head, she'd learn from her father, the oldest and wisest gargoyle there was.

And of course she'd bring Lexington along, he might benefit from the training as well. She closed her eyes and tried to envision herself holding a sword.

It was dificult, but not impossible to see. Why couldn't Alabaster see it?

------

Xanatos closed his eyes for a moment in thought, his hands held in front of his face.

He put them down and stood up, he looked at the strange man with detective Bluestone, then to Owen and then to his wife, Fox.

There really was nobody else left. The gargoyles and their detective chum had gone through some portal, he understood, and taken the two ratlike monsters that tried to abduct his son with them.

Xanatos didn't like the idea of rat monsters taking his son . . . though Owen had explained that Alexander was perfectly safe.

Xanatos also didn't feel completely comfortable with the fact that Goliath had been propelled into another dimension trying to protect his son, and he felt as if he should at least make an effort to bring them back. He owed Goliath that much, he felt.

But the businessman needed to first understand the dangers before he took any action. "Owen . . . tell me about Atheia. Is it a place secluded like Avalon? Can we get there without a portal?"  
Owen was silent for a moment, finally however he said "Atheia is an entirely different world, Mr. Xanatos. I do not recomend a visit."

"But you know of it. Otherwise you couldn't have opened a portal." Xanatos reasoned.

"Yes. Well asside from Avalon there are several hidden isles, Lord Oberon's children have worked hard to keep them hidden . . . but Atheia is no such place. It is the realm of the dragons, their final domain."

"_Hai_. The Atheians talk of dragons often. Dragons have gone beneath the earth to rest they say." The samurai said.

Xanatos smirked, "I see . . . the gathering?"  
"No." Owen said. "Though out of respect many dragons came to witness the children of Oberon during the gathering the fact is that they are not Oberon's children. They're not as powerful, they're not immortal. They are strong and incredibly long lived, they have a natural talent for their type of magic, which is bending the dreaming world all around them, as well as typical spells found outside of dreams. However as I've said they are . . . not as powerful as we are. They may have staged their own Gathering to mimic us."

Xanatos' smirk didn't diminish though he'd been wrong in guessing the origins of the dragons, "So we know you're stronger than any of them."

"I believe so sir." Owen said. "If . . . I were still capable of using my full powers."

Xanatos closed his eyes, "Do you understand the war of Atheia?"

"No." Owen said. "I hadn't visited for quite some time, and had I known that there was a population of gargoyles in Atheia I would most certainly have used them in some play against Goliath and his clan."

"I see." Xanatos said, he turned to the samurai, "Very well then, Mr. Kisaragi was it? Do tell me how the war fares. Do our gargoyle friends and detective Maza have any chance of survival without our help?"

"No." The japanese man said flatly. "The war a downhill battle is, without my expertise the castle will not last much longer, Marshal of the Armies am I. Less perhaps than four hundred fighters the castle has, more perhaps than four hundred thousand fighters the enemy has. Strong warriors Atheia has but strength to such numbers victory is impossible."

Xanatos nodded once. "Interesting. Owen . . . can you open a portal to Atheia again?"

"No."

It was a flat reply and the very one Xanatos had expected.

"That leaves us just one option then."

"What?" Bluestone asked, "What option?"

Xanantos grinned at the naieve detective, "The only other person we know of capable of opening a portal . . . Demona."

"How would she open a portal?" Bluestone asked.

"He's right, won't she need a spell book, David?" Fox spoke up.

"Leave that to me." Xanatos said calmly, he turned to Bluestone, "You're the detective. Find her. When you find her come to me, and I'll contact her. This will work out . . . trust me."

Bluestone looked unsure, but Kisaragi said "Anything that will bring me back to Atheia I will do."

"Good. Because I've got another task in mind for you my enthusiastic friend," Xanatos said calmly. "You'll need to explain to a gargoyle named Talyn why his sister, our dear detective Maza is suddenly in the middle of a war you say is impossible to win."

Xanatos closed his eyes again. Despite what others might be thinking, no plan whatsoever was currently forming in his mind.

Because the brilliant Xanatos already had one. As soon as Kisaragi and Bluestone were gone he said to Owen, "How many Steel Clan robots do you think we can build in the time it'll take them to find Demona?"

Owen smiled, "Time will tell sir."

------

Lexington sighed with relief when he saw the castle up ahead.

Not that they'd travled far, the library was in the ruins of the old city after all, however the fact that the castle seemed quite tranquil was what gave Lexington his relief. There were gargoyle sillouttes floating across the sky, human guards patrolling the walls, and the massive gates which were now in shambles were being worked on as well.

Lexington and the others travled towards the gate, Bartleby disguised by shadow spells as a human guard.

They had nearly reached their destination when a voice spoke up, "Hello there good sirs, pray tell me, whose castle is this?"

A pair of young men emerged from behind a ruin, they wore tattered and torn cloths but had fantastic weapons.

The headmaster was silent, staring at them from behind his hood, but Almasy said "It's Castle Thorn, castle of the Harvestar family, rulers of Atheia . . . you're ship wrecked arent you?"

"Is it so obvious?" The one with a sword sighed, "Yes lad we are but humble knights, we were aboard a ship traveling to the crusades when a storm took us and the next I knew I awoke on a beach, I am Sir Koil and my massive companion is Sir Roth. We've fought terrible furry monsters just trying to reach this place, pray thee ask thy king to lend us a safe place to sleep for the night and we will be most thankful."

"Come." The headmaster said shortly, and he continued his march.

The two knights smirked at each other and fell in behind the head master.

Lexington however watched them closely. Somthing didn't seem quite right.

And it was odd, he thought, that their weapons should be so . . . fantastic. Their cloths were nothing special, but their weapons suggested they'd been knights of importance, or at the very least wealth.

Lexington however supposed it wasnt all that odd, perhaps they had grabbed their weapons before the ship went down, but had failed to put their armor on. And wouldn't armor have all but ensured their drowning anyway? So . . . maybe that wasn't the matter.

But something was. Something wasn't right about them. It wasn't necessarily a bad feeling he got from them for the feeling he got from being in their presence was actually rather neutral, but something didn't feel right.

Bartleby began to softly hiss, and Smiley Bone asked with concern, "What's the problem buddy?"  
Bartleby whispered, "Don't you smell it? Brimstone . . . there must be a dragon nearby!"

"What say thee? A dragon? Then let us waste no time, make for the castle!" Koil said, drawing his sword, "Let any foul beast threaten our parrty and he will taste my steel!"

Koil made a few practice thrusts, he looked rather comical and Lexington _hopped_ that it was intentional. His companion shook his head and held his forehead, suggesting that Koil was prone to such antics and that the comedy was in fact not intentional.

Just great. A weird knight who didn't know how to use his sword. Oh yes he'd be a great load of help.

None the less he was right about one thing, they needed to get back to the castle . . . if there was a dragon about it might not be friendly.

**To Be Continued . . .**


End file.
